Huh. I wonder if Walt and Jean will make an appearance.
Anyways, what would've happened if you didn't fight back?
We'll see~
After all the chapters are done, I'm planning on making some special chapter(s) about how things would have changed if you made different choices.
As far as what happens if you don't fight back, this is not set in stone but here's what I'm thinking (Long story short): The neighbours grab Vaughan and injure him, making him walk with a slight limp for the rest of the story. Nate tries to hold Charlie back but she freaks out and kills a few of them. Nate and friends run away and drive off.
The difference with this choice and the original one is that this choice makes Vaughan lack any grudge against Nate (because even though Nate let him get injured, Nate didn't hurt any 'innocent' people) and focuses all his anger on Charlie (because Charlie killed people). While Charlie is angry at Nate for not defending Vaughan.
Chapter 2 original opening This was the original opening of the second chapter of The Walking Dead: Real Monsters before I decided to start over. Because I’m not going to use it in the fic, and because I think it’s really good, I figure I may as well post it here.
Contains no spoilers for the newer version.
The undead creature stopped midway through its dragging stride in the middle of the road. The pupils in its cloudy eyes contracted as it heard a rumbling hum coming from its right. The noise wasn’t there before. The noise was getting louder. The noise was food and food must be stalked. It must be ganged up upon, bitten, shredded, devoured.
Turned.
The monster positioned itself towards the noise and walked, groaning constantly as it had ever since it stopped being a man with partner and children, and became a thing devoted solely to eating and infecting.
The noise was even closer, now accompanied by two round glowing lights and a metal frame. The zombie’s steps became hurried as it prepared to get through the metal and at the meal inside.
The rumbling hum quieted as the metal frame and lights slowed to a stop. The metal was stationary for a moment, watching as the monster gradually closed the distance between them. A glass shield from the side of the metal lowered itself and food came out. It sat themselves on the edge of the frame where the glass shield once was and held a stick in their hand.
The metal frame began to screech as sped towards the creature. The food raised the arm holding the stick. The zombie growled, exposing teeth filled with the food debris of it's former family’s flesh. It stretched rotting hands out to the food, wanting to grab the food and consume them.
The metal swerved around the monster. The food brought the stick down on the thing’s head. There was a loud cracking noise as fragments of the creature’s skull were forced into its brain.
The zombie died for the second time before its body hit the pavement.
After all the chapters are done, I'm planning on making some special chapter(s) about how things would have changed if you made different choices.
As far as what happens if you don't fight back, this is not set in stone but here's what I'm thinking (Long story short): The neighbours grab Vaughan and injure him, making him walk with a slight limp for the rest of the story. Nate tries to hold Charlie back but she freaks out and kills a few of them. Nate and friends run away and drive off.
The difference with this choice and the original one is that this choice makes Vaughan lack any grudge against Nate (because even though Nate let him get injured, Nate didn't hurt any 'innocent' people) and focuses all his anger on Charlie (because Charlie killed people). While Charlie is angry at Nate for not defending Vaughan.
I just thought about something, if Nate does a different lie does Charlie's weapon of choice change? That would be kinda cool.
I just thought about something, if Nate does a different lie does Charlie's weapon of choice change? That would be kinda cool.
You know what? I didn't think about that before, but that would be cool. Though if we pretend that this is an actual video game, I don't know if that would happen.
This game series adapts to the choices you make.
The story is tailored by how you play.
TELLTALE GAMES
presents
in association with
SKYBOUND ENTERTAINMENT
THIRTY-FIVE DAYS LATER
Nate always acknowledged the aesthetics of houses; the impressive designs of mansions, quaintness of cottages, the unoriginality of copycat complexes; but he never known how much energy radiated off of these places. Never known how much he could feel this energy, albeit subconsciously. Whether people were cooking, cleaning, fucking, bathing; whether people loved life or hated it; the lives of others flowed off of them and circulated in their homes. And their homes, in turn, made the world warm.
Now all the people abandoned their homes and no matter how different all the houses looked from each other, they felt as dead as the rest of the world. All the energy had faded into space, possibly to another planet where things hadn’t gone to hell. This neighborhood so similar to the one they had run away from five weeks ago was no exception. Nate was surprised by how much he cared.
“These houses don’t look like they’ve been raided yet.” Nate sounded more indifferent than he felt. “We might have hit the jackpot.”
(o) Look at house door
There was a symbol on three of the doors, a number eight with a vertical line down the middle and a small cross to the upper right. The cross was their way of signifying to each other that they were in the house, and the slashed eight told them that the house was emptied of anything useful. Charlie had come up with the signs.
“Three already? How is she going through the houses so quickly? The truck isn’t that full.” Nate wondered. “Maybe there’s no jackpot after all...” He looked at the fourth house to his right and made his way towards it.
He walked up the steps of the house to the porch and stood in front of the door.
(o) Open door
Many people assumed that things would blow over and they would be able to return home again. They assumed they wouldn’t die before being able to go back. So they boarded the windows and locked the doors to keep their belongings safe until they could return. However, there were always a few homes that didn’t take those precautions. Nate didn’t understand why, but it didn’t matter to him. What was important was making sure that the doors were not already open before trying to break through and make unnecessary noise.
Nate grabbed the knob and turned. It was locked.
“Worth a shot.” He said.
(o) Kick door
Nate positioned himself sideways from the door, his dominant leg closest to it. He raised his leg and lightly tapped the area just below the knob to get a feel for where he was going to kick. He lowered his foot, took a moment to prepare himself, raised his leg again and-
“Hey!” A voice said behind him. Nate kicked the doorknob. A circle of pain assaulted the bottom of his foot. Nate yelped, lost balance, and fell down. He hopped back up, quickly turned towards the voice, and readied his gun.
It was Charlie. She stood in front of the railing of the porch, looking up at him with a bored expression despite the gun pointed at her.
“Don’t shoot.” Charlie deadpanned, waving her fingers in the air with one hand and holding the butcher’s knife with the other.
| What are you doing? | | Don’t sneak up on me |
| My foot hurts |
| ... |
Nate put the gun in his the back of his pants and frowned. “Don’t sneak up on me!” Nate said. “I could have fucking shot you!”
“Why are you so jumpy today?” Charlie said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m not jumpy, I wasn’t expecting you.” Nate insisted. “I thought we were supposed to go through the houses individually. Why aren’t you at a house right now?”
“I wanted to talk to you. Alone.” Charlie said.
| Is that so? |
| About what |
| Now? |
| ... |
Nate stared at her for a moment before smiling. He leaned over the railing and leered at her.
“What do you want to talk about?” Nate asked suggestively. Charlie stood up on her toes and flicked him on the forehead. Nate swore and pulled back.
“Not that you asshole!” Charlie hissed. “You are such a pig!”
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” Nate said, rubbing his forehead and not really sorry. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Follow me.” Charlie said, not answering him. She walked to the side of the house. Nate rotated his right ankle, making sure his foot was useable, and walked down the stairs after her.
The ground at the side of the house had been paved over, but the signs of neglect were evident by the long weeds that grew through the cracks. Nate thought, as he stepped on the escaping grass, of how his lawn was doing. It needed cutting the last time he left his house so it probably was a jungle now.
The last time he left the house.
Was there someone raiding his house right now, he wondered?
“So about you and your boyfriend.” Charlie began suddenly. “If I remember correctly, you lied to me so I would come to the Vaughan’s house. Though you never told me why.” Nate sighed through his nose. Crap, she wanted to know. They stopped in front of the gate leading into the backyard. Charlie tested it to see if it was opened. It wasn’t. She turned to face Nate and crossed her arms.
“What did you two want to tell me?” She asked.
| I’ll tell you later |
| Vaughan will tell you |
| You have pretty eyes | | ... |
Nate grinned at Charlie. Charlie flicked him in the forehead. He swore.
“Nate, answer me.” Charlie demanded.
| I’ll tell you later |
| Vaughan will tell you | | You have pretty eyes |
| ... |
“Did I ever tell you that you have pretty eyes?” Nate asked. Charlie scowled at him, her violet eyes like daggers.
(?) Charlie will remember that
“Nate-” She warned.
“Because you have pretty eyes.”
“-I will kick your ass.”
“Very pretty.”
“Fine!” Charlie threw her hands into the air. She turned, grabbed hold on the gate, and pulled herself up. She twisted her body and put the balls of her feet on the top. Nate was briefly alarmed by how much she looked like a vulture, balancing up there and glaring down at him.
“I’ll let it go for now.” She told him, her face tense. “But soon either you or Vaughan will tell me what’s going on.” With that, she jumped off to the other side. Nate stood there for a moment, thinking agitatedly about the shitstorm that would come when Charlie found out what they’d been hiding from her. Nate shook his head. There was time to think about that later. He went to the gate and pulled himself over it.
They stalked through the backyard quietly as they made their way to the door. The long grass brushing against their clothes sounded like signals to whatever zombie was around. ‘Come here, come here!’ He thought he heard. ‘There’s food over here! We’re rubbing their pants! Fucking eat them!’ They crept up the porch and it made squeaking noises. ‘Squeak, eat, squeak, eat’ the stairs said.
It wasn’t that Nate had never broken into a house before, all three of them had been doing that quite a bit every since the apocalypse started and he had done it twice before then, but it was nerve racking going into a place knowing there was a good chance something would try to eat him. He would get used to it, he knew he would, but that in itself was horrific. Getting used to the apocalypse? Goddamn. ‘Not like you don’t enjoy this a little’ A voice in his head said. Nate fiercely ignored it.
Charlie went up to the door and, weapon ready, tried to open it. It did, reveling a screen door behind it. She tried the screen door but it was locked.
“They locked the front door and not the back?” Nate asked. “That’s pretty stupid. A screen door isn’t going to protect shit.” Charlie cut through the mesh, proving his point.
She put her arm through the hole she cut and unlocked the door. “Doesn’t matter.” Charlie said. “What is important is that there’s most likely no freaks in here.” Most likely. They had gone into homes where the relatives had left their infected family members in rooms. Usually these rooms were marked, but occasionally there had been surprise encounters with the dead. Most of them were adults, some had been children. Both Nate and Vaughan never slept well when they found kids. Charlie went unfazed.
Charlie opened the door and they both went inside.
Nate took two steps into the house and paused. Something about the house seemed off and yet familiar, Nate couldn’t think of what it was. Everything looked normal; the floor was swept, objects were clear of dust, and the place smelt as if it had been aired out; but something was wrong. Charlie noticed this as well; she also had stopped and was looking around the entranceway, confused and frowning. She walked forward and turned into the kitchen. Nate followed her.
“The kitchen smells like pie.” She said. She was flexing the hold on her knife.
| Apple pie |
| Why? | | I’m hungry |
| ... |
“Great. Now I’m hungry.” Nate said. Charlie stared at him and then looked thoughtfully to the ground.
“Nate...” She said slowly, looking back up at him. “You can look in the kitchen for any supplies. I’ll look around the house for... things.” She walked away before Nate could reply.
(o) Open cupboard
He opened the cupboard expecting it to be empty, but found a dozen cans.
(o) Take cans
“Holy shit!” Nate laughed, taking off his bag and placing the cans in. “This is awesome! And some of these have only been expired for a week! Some aren’t even expired at all!” He paused. “Wait, did I just fucking say that? Damn, I’ve been living like this too long.” He put the last can in his bag and shook it. The bag had a comforting weight. Nate smiled.
(o) Open at drawer
Nate opened the drawer and looking inside.
(o) Look at can opener
“We already have one of those.” Nate said to himself. That was one of the first things they made sure to take when they first started raiding homes.
(o) Take can opener
“...It wouldn’t hurt to have more.” Nate said and put it in his bag.
(o) Look at cleaver
The cleaver was placed in there rather haphazardly.
“I can use this.” Nate said.
(o) Take cleaver
Nate took the cleaver and placed the handle in his pants.
(o) Look at pie
It was sitting on the counter closest to the fridge, looking like it belonged in a cookbook. The smell was sweet and tangy. Nate whistled.
“Well holy shit.” Nate said. “Apple pie.”
(o) Eat pie
There was a small triangle spatula sitting in a triangle hole in the pie. Nate picked the spatula up, scooped out a sloppy piece of pie, and shoved it in his mouth.
After five weeks of eating canned food, unseasoned meat, and wild plants, this piece of pie was the best anything he had ever eaten. Everything he would ever eat after this was going to taste unbelievably bland but he didn’t care. If he could just die with this pie in his mouth, it would be a good death. Nate made an unintelligible happy sound as he swallowed and began to scoop out more.
Just before he placed the pie in his mouth, his mind made a connection. This connection was so powerful it made him drop the spatula.
“This pie is warm.” Nate said slowly. “It was warm because it was recently cooked. Like how the floors had been recently cleaned and the objects dusted. This house feels wrong because it’s being lived in! Fuck, why didn’t I notice that befo-”
“Hey!” A voice said behind him. Nate began to turn around when a blunt object hit him in the head. Nate fell to the floor and lost consciousness for a few seconds.
When he came to he was on his back and the world around him was blurred and doubling. Some evil thing was banging dumbbells in the left side of his skull and throwing stars into his eyes. He managed to focus in time to see a foot accelerating to his face.
<<<<<Q>>>>>
Nate caught the foot and pushed upwards. The owner of the foot put their weight down and Nate had to strain to keep it from stomping his head.
[E]
Nate shoved hard against the foot and pushed upwards, causing the person to lose balance and fall backward. Nate hastily stood up and took the cleaver out of his pants. The assailant; a man, ten years older than Nate, average build; pulled himself off the ground and charged at him with a wooden baseball bat.
(o)
Nate backed up into the living room, raised the cleaver and brought it down on the baseball bat. The bat was cut in half. The man dropped it and swung at Nate. He missed.
(o)
Nate swung the cleaver vertically. It hit the man in the stomach. The man screamed and stumbled back.
(o)
Nate swung the cleaver horizontally. It hit the man in the shoulder and got stuck. The man wailed.
(o)
Nate held onto the handle and kicked the man in the chest. The cleaver came out and the man fell.
The man crawled backwards; one arm madly pulling behind him, the other limply sagging to his side, his feet kicking out and making squeaking noises on the tiled kitchen floor as he tried to escape the intruder. Nate stalked forward, eyes wide and furious. The man’s back hit something and he looked up. Charlie stared down at him curiously. The man cringed away from her and pushed himself against the wall.
“So this is what all the noise was about.” Charlie said to Nate. Nate grunted. She looked back down on the man. “You’re getting blood all over your floor sir.”
“Get out of my house.” The man quivered. “Please.”
| You need better locks |
| Why? | | Please? |
| ... |
“Please? You’re going to try and be all nice and shit after you tried to bash my fucking head in?” Nate growled. The man recoiled.
“You should kill him for all the trouble he’s been giving you.” Charlie said. “He deserves it.”
“No! Please! Take whatever you want! Just leave!” The man begged.
(o)
Nate stepped in front of the man. The man put his arms in front of his hands and began to shake. Nate raised his arm and brought the cleaver down. There was a cracking sound and the man screamed. Charlie made a puzzled noise.
“...Did you miss?” She asked Nate. The cleaver was lodged into the wall a few inches above the man’s head. Nate took the cleaver out of the wall.
“No.” Nate said. “I’m not going to kill him.” The man stopped shaking and lowered his arms away from his face.
“...How much are you going to take?” The man asked.
| Most of it |
| Some of it | | None of it |
| ... |
“We’re not taking anything from here.” Nate said. The man and Charlie gave him identical looks of surprise.
“What?” Charlie blurted out. “Why not?”
“Charles-” Nate began.
“Don’t call me ‘Charles’. What is it with you and nicknames lately?”
“-We have no reason to steal from this man. We have an entire neighborhood of unoccupied houses to go through.” He paused and looked at the man. “They are unoccupied, right?”
“I believe so.” The man answered.
“See?” Nate said. “Let’s leave him alone.”
“We’ve stolen from people before.” Charlie commented. “And he has quite a bit of food so-”
“No,” Nate said. “That isn’t the same. The owners of the houses we go through aren’t using what we take. He is.”
“...He tried to kill you.” She said slowly, as if that would change his mind.
“I know. And that was fucking rude.” Nate said crossly. The man flinched. “But he did it for a reason so whatever, let’s go.” Charlie stared at Nate disbelievingly before shaking her head.
“Fine.” She said. “We’ll g-”
“Guatier!” A voice from the living room cried. All three of them turned towards the voice. It was a woman around the same age as the man. She had a hammer in her hand.
“Hanna don’t-” Guatier warned. Hanna screamed and ran towards Nate. He meant to hold her still but the force of her movements and the blood on the floor caused him to fall. Hanna landed on top of him and brought the hammer down.
<<<<<Q>>>>>
Nate grabbed her arms and pushed them away from him. Hanna wasn’t very strong, but it was still hard to get her off of him. Nate slowly began sitting up, easing the hysterical woman off of him and-
A knife protruded out of her chest and nearly hit Nate in the stomach. He flinched as blood gushed on him. Hanna made a pained wheezing sound, dropping the hammer on the floor and touching the knife with shaking hands. Charlie moved the butcher’s knife, the woman with it, and kicked her off the blade. She fell to Nate’s left. Nate looked at woman wide eyed. The woman looked back at him, eyes equally wide, until they looked at nothing at all.
“Hanna!” Guatier bellowed. He stared at Charlie, eyes on burning with hate. “You bitch!” He lunged with all his strength. Charlie stabbed him in the stomach. She pulled in out and he fell to the ground with a thud. Charlie took a kitchen rag from the drawer and wiped off the blood off her knife. Nate looked back and forth between the two bodies body, stunned.
“They’re not going to need their supplies anymore.” Charlie said offhandedly, dropping the bloody rag on the floor and moving towards the pie. She cut herself a slice, inspected it, and took a bite. The kitchen didn’t smell like pie anymore, it smelt like iron.
“Wh- what...” Nate’s voice was raspy. “What the fu-”
“Nate. I did the same thing you did for Vaughan.” Charlie said calmly. She looked at him. “Let’s focus on getting supplies.” She walked out of the kitchen and left him there with the two bodies.
Nate sat on the floor, blood seeping through his pants, and thought about how he felt. Ever since everything had gone to hell, he had meditated on his emotions more that he had ever done in his entire life. He knew why he hadn’t before. He did not like how his brain worked.
It wasn’t as if the apocalypse wasn’t affecting him negatively. Seeing abandoned buildings, fighting and running from monsters did weigh down on his mind; but breaking down doors, bashing monsters’ heads in, running for his life, driving without having any fix purpose; it felt incredible.
And it was fun, and he hated that it felt fun to him. It wasn’t normal. He wasn’t supposed to like any of this, and a part of him didn’t. A part of him was greatly disturbed by everything and wanted to go home. The other part of him though, the part that he found was much too large, loved it and never wanted it to end.
Then there were the deaths of other people.
Nate looked to his left at Hanna, then looked in front of him at Guatier, and barely felt anything. He was a bit sad, they both didn’t have to die and that was a shame, but nothing more. Other than his initial shock, he wasn’t angry with Charlie for killing them, he didn’t feel guilty or responsible for their deaths, and the only nausea he felt came from breathing in the smell of their blood for so long. That was all. Just like when he had killed Anya.
Nate stood up and stared down at the bodies on the ground.
“I’m a fucking psychopath.” He told the bodies. In his whole life he had be scared of many things, but Nate had never be as scared of himself as he was now.
As he walked into the living room he noticed Charlie staring intently up the stairs.
| What is it? |
| We should go |
| How much stuff do you have? |
| ... |
“Charlie wha-” He began. Charlie shushed him.
“Do you hear that?” She whispered. Nate walked closer to her and listened. After a moment he heard it.
“Is that screaming?” He asked.
“I think so.” Charlie said. “What do you think it is?”
| A person | | A animal |
| A zombie |
| ... |
“It might be a dog.” Nate answered. “Maybe a parrot.” Charlie gave him an incredulous look.
(?) Charlie will remember that
“A dog?” She repeated, eyebrows furrowed. “You think it might be a dog?”
“Or a parrot.” Nate said again. Charlie closed her eyes, shook her head, and looked back up the stairs.
“Whatever it is, it needs to be dealt with.” Charlie said. “You go look and I’ll be here if you need any help.”
| Okay |
| Why me? |
| You come too |
| ... |
“Okay, sure.” Nate said. Charlie walked away from the stairs. He grabbed onto the railing and crept up, making as little noise as possible to take whatever it was by surprise if it happened not to be an animal. These stairs, unlike the ones outside, where well maintained and didn’t creak while he walked. He got to the top and turned towards the direction of the sound. It was coming from a room to his right. As he walked towards it, he was positive that it was not a zombie, unless zombies were learning how to scream. He stood in front of the door.
(o) Listen at door
Nate pressed his ear against the door. Whatever was in there was wailing as loud as it could, gasping, hiccupping, and wailing again.
“That sounds more like a person than an animal.” Nate murmured to himself. “Even if it’s not, whatever is in there sounds like it’s in pain.”
(o) Open door
Nate took the gun out, released the safety, and held the knob. He held his breath and quickly opened the door.
The room was painted with pastel shades of pink and blue stripes. The walls had pictures of balloon animals and circus people. The room was small and only had a garbage bin, a bookshelf, a drawer, a rocking chair, and a crib where the crying was coming from. Nate’s jaw dropped.
“This is a baby room...” Nate whispered to himself, lowering the gun. His feet moved closer to the crib with out his permission. He placed his gun on top of the drawer beside the crib, placed his hands on the railing, and looked over.
The baby was five, maybe six months old. It had the same red hair as the father but looked like the mother. Its green eyes stared into Nate’s and it stopped crying for a moment. It’s expression became quizzical, it never seen this stranger before, but then it remembered it was sad and began crying again. It raised its arms to Nate, begging to be picked up. Nate froze.
“So this is where the animal is?” Charlie said behind him. Nate looked over his shoulder at her. She walked towards the crib and stared down at the baby emotionlessly. The baby stopped crying, stared at the new stranger, and started again. Charlie raised the knife over her head.
(o)
Nate caught her arm before she brought the knife down.
“What the fuck are you doing!?” Nate growled, roughly turning her around to face him. The baby cried harder at his tone.
“We’re not going to take care of this baby.” Charlie explained calmly. “And if we leave it here it’ll starve. I’m being nice. If I kill the baby now it won’t starve to death later.”
“Killing the baby is not an option.” Nate’s voice was dangerously low. His grip on her arm tightened and Charlie winced.
“Fine.” Charlie said irritated. “Let the puppy starve.” Nate let go of her arm and she backed away from him, holding the arm close to her chest. “At least shut it up. I don’t want it attracting a horde to us.” She stormed out of the room and slammed the door.
He turned towards the baby. It looked at him and raised its arms.
(o) Pick up baby
Nate lowered his hands into the crib, stopped a few inches from touching the baby, raised his hands, frowned, and lowered his hands again. He put his hands under its armpits and lifted. He held the baby; his arms straight and locked in position. The baby stretched its own arms towards him, wanting to be closer. He realized that his shirt was cover it’s mother’s blood and for the first time felt a pang of guilt. Nate unlocked his arms and pulled the baby into an embrace.
He rocked the baby up and down without saying anything, pacing around the room as the baby cried.
(o) Look at baby bottle
It was on top of the drawer next to where he had placed his gun. It was half full.
“Why would they leave a bottle of milk laying around? Unless...” He closed his eyes. “Unless they were feeding you when we came.” He finished. He opened his eyes and stared at the bottle.
(o) Pick up bottle
Nate took the bottle and sat down on the rocking chair. He positioned the baby in the crook of his left arm and gave it the bottle. It cried around the opening for a moment before settling down and drinking. Milk trailed down the side of its mouth as it drank.
| I’m sorry | | Boy or girl? |
| You’re gross |
| ... |
“Are you a boy or a girl?” Nate asked the baby. “I can’t tell by looking at you. All babies look the same to me.” The baby stared up at him but didn’t answer. The bottle was one third finished. “I’m going to assume you’re a girl.” He said.
| I’ll make it up to you |
| You’re drinking fast | | Rude |
| ... |
“You’re a rude little shit.” Nate joked. “You know you’re supposed to say ‘thank you’ when people feed you, right?” The baby closed her eyes. “Fucking rude.” She drank the rest of her bottle. Nate slowly removed it from the baby’s mouth and waited for a reaction. Her eyes fluttered, but she went to sleep.
(o) Put baby in crib
He stood up, careful not to disturb the baby, and walked towards the crib. He looked down at the small bed. He didn’t want to let her go, but what were the alternatives? Charlie was right; they couldn’t take care of a baby now. Hell, they couldn’t take care of a baby before the apocalypse began. He sighed, shoulders dropping as he lowered the baby down. She yawned as her body met the bed. Nate went to the side, took his gun, and walked towards the door.
He opened the door. His feet won’t move. He frowned down at them. Charlie had said that the baby would die of starvation if they left her alone, but they couldn’t take care of a baby. They’d be horrible parents. But if he did nothing the baby would die. But...
The look of utter surprise on Charlie’s face was funny. The look that came after it, one of rising furry, was less funny but Nate didn’t care. It was quite hard to carry the bag on this back, the baby bag on one arm, and the baby on the other so his focus was more on that and less on Charlie’s anger.
“Nate.” Charlie said, trying not to yell. “Why are you bringing the puppy?”
| We’re not killing her |
| It’s not forever |
| Help me |
| ... |
“Charlie, I told you killing the baby is not an option.” Nate said sternly, which sounded odd to him because he was rarely ever stern. “If we leave her here she’ll die, and if you kill her she’ll die, so there’s really no other choice except to bring her along.” Charlie scowled and walked closer to Nate until their faces were inches away.
“You have to understand something.” Her voice was low and dark. She spoke slowly, stressing every word. “If you bring this baby, she will put our lives in danger. We need to be as safe as we possibly can. So you need to put her back where she came from, close the door, and come downstairs without any baggage.” Charlie looked down at the baby disdainfully. The baby slept unaware with her head on his shoulder.
| No |
| I would | | I will fight you |
| ... |
“Charlie I will physically fight you for this, I swear to God.” His tone matched Charlie’s; only it was darker and more forceful. He hovered over her and glared down ferociously. “You are not going to let this baby die. If you try, I will shoot you and feed you to the goddamn zombies. Don’t you fucking try.”
(?) Charlie will remember that
The muscles in Charlie’s face twitched dangerously. She raised her arm and backhanded him across the face. His head was forced to the side and he almost lost balance. The baby moaned but didn’t wake up. He hissed in pain. Charlie turned, picked up her bag of supplies and walked out of the house.
“Fucking ow.” Nate groaned, shaking his head back and forth. The next car ride was going to be awkward and stressful, he knew that already, but he would deal with that later. He made his way to the front door, his arms already tired from all the weight he was holding. Just as he was about to reach the door a zombie grabbed hold of his bag.
“Wha-” He began to say. It was Hanna. She, it now, moaned and made a move to grab the baby. Nate stepped back, lost balance, and fell into a chair behind him. The baby made a startled noise but didn’t wake up. Nate tried to grab for his gun.
The sound of bones breaking made him pause. He looked up in time to see the monster fall to the ground. Guatier stood, broken bloody bat in hand. He swayed where he stood and looked at Nate. The bat fell from his hand.
“M-my baby...” Guatier grieved. He took a shaky step towards Nate, an arm stretched towards his child.
| I’m sorry |
| I’ll take care of her |
| Stay away |
| ... |
“I’m sorry.” Nate said. He was alarmed by how little of the apology was meant for the man and woman. He had felt guilt in the nursery, but looking at the dying man he understood that it was for the baby’s sake and not for the pain he caused the parents. What was wrong with him?
“M-my baby...” Guatier said again. “Don’t... don’t hurt...” The man collapsed. Nate heard him gasp for air, a sound that sounded wet and painful, and then he heard him breathe no more.
Nate closed the door behind him. Though questions of his mental health still plagued him, he felt much better now that he outside. Charlie was looking at the supplies they had in the back of the truck. She had accumulated a large amount of goods while Nate had been occupied with the baby and thoughts of psychopathy. He thought they wouldn’t have to go through any more houses in the area if they didn’t want to, though it was always better to take as much as you could in times like these.
Vaughan was some distance away. It was his turn to stay with the truck. They always took turns staying with the vehicle while the other two went scavenging; protecting their possessions was the job of the person staying behind.
It looked as though Vaughan was talking to someone, though he couldn’t see who it was.
(o) Put supplies in truck
Nate walked to the back of the truck and placed the baby bag and backpack down. Charlie glared at him but said nothing.
(o) Talk to Charlie
Nate sighed. “Charlie-”
“You’re an asshole.” Charlie retorted.
| I know |
| You’re not a bitch? | | Sorry |
| ... |
“I’m sorry for making you angry.” Nate said. “I know you’re just trying to keep everyone safe. But this little girl is only five, maybe six months old. I’m willing to do quite a bit to survive, but I’m not doing that.” Charlie looked up at the overcast sky and said nothing. Nate was about to turn to leave when she started talking.
“Let me give you some advice Nate.” Charlie said. Nate arched an eyebrow. “Some people say that you can’t have morals in situations such as this.” She gestured all around her. “That’s not really true. You can keep some of your morals, such as sticking by your friends or not being racist. But other things you have to forget, or you will die.” She eyed the baby scornfully and looked back at Nate.
| What’s wrong with you? |
| Interesting | | Thanks for the advice |
| ... |
“Thanks for the advice.” Nate said slowly. The baby turned her face and rested the other cheek on his shoulder. Charlie nodded.
(o) Look at Vaughan
Nate walked away from the truck and tried to get a look at who Vaughan was talking to. He walked until he could see Vaughan’s profile and froze.
"Aw shit." Nate whispered under his breath.
It was nobody. Vaughan was having a conversation with the Goddamn air.
Nate pulled the collar of his shirt, frowning down at the ground. Was Vaughan losing his mind? He was mentally the weakest link out of the three of them; he was always reluctant to shoot zombies even when he was a safe distance away, he would have nightmares that would last the entire night, and he had to force himself to eat even when he had gone days without food; but to Nate’s knowledge he had never hallucinated before.
Vaughan turned towards the truck as Nate looked back up. Nate couldn’t see his facial expressions, but he could tell that the younger man was shaking. Vaughan turned back and flinched so hard his feet left the ground. He looked around, his body twisting in awkward angles and his head whipping back and forth. Eventually he stopped, shook his head, took off his glasses, and covered his eyes with his hands.
"They’re ‘gone’ now." Nate said to himself, watching Vaughan breathing heavily from afar. Whatever had been going on in his mind, looking at the truck inadvertently snapped him out of it. He made his way towards the younger man.
(o) Talk to Vaughan
“Hey.” Nate said as he got close to Vaughan. The baby yawned. Vaughan didn’t notice the little girl.
“Nate...” Vaughan’s voice shook. He spread his trembling fingers, startled eyes peaking through. “I saw... I mean... I- she- w-what?”
| Breathe |
| What did you see |
| Go to the truck |
| ... |
Nate used his free hand to squeeze Vaughan’s shoulder, making him flinch.
“Breathe. You need to calm down and breathe.” Nate ordered. Vaughan moved his hands away from his face and began hyperventilating.
“Okay, breathe slower than that. Slower. Slower.” Nate said. Vaughan closed his eyes, concentrating his respiration until he managed to calm down. He opened his eyes and stared directly at Nate.
“I saw Anya.” Vaughan told him.
| She’s here? |
| Not possible | | Are you serious? |
| ... |
Nate let go of his shoulder and groaned. “Are you serious?” He said, irritated. “You hallucinated because of your stupid guilt crap?” Vaughan stuttered incomprehensibly before stopping himself and glaring at Nate.
“I didn’t mean to hallucinate!” Vaughan said. “And ‘stupid guilt crap’? You killed someone because of me, you asshole, of course I feel guilty about it. So should you!”
Nate rolled his eyes. “Give me a fucking break.” He said.
“I know you think that we’re okay, but I can’t handle being angry 24 hours of the day!” Vaughan said. “I’m still mad at you and Charlie for what the both of you did.”
“Saving your life?” Nate asked incredulously.
“Murdering people!” Vaughan nearly screamed.
| I’m a murderer | | Listen to me |
| You piece of shit |
| ... |
“Listen to me. I understand why you’re pissed off, I really do,” Nate said, trying not to yell himself and accidently wake the baby. “But you have to fucking let it go! Ever since that car crashed into the house, we’ve all been in an apocalyptic situation. And that means we have to do whatever it takes to keep each other safe!” The weight of the baby he was holding punctuated the hypocrisy of his words, but he ignored it.
(?) Vaughan will remember that
“Keep each other safe?” Vaughan repeated resentfully. “I thought I was supposed to kill my own innocent people next ti-”
“Hey!” Charlie whispered harshly. The two men jumped and turned towards her. Vaughan nearly fell down. She was tapping the butcher’s knife on her thigh, looking like a frustrated teacher.
“You’re both being too loud! Shut the fuck up!” She whispered again, waving the knife at both of them and causing the men to back away from her. Nate looked around, expecting zombies to stumble around the corner, but none came. Vaughan frowned and looked away from her.
| Sure | | More scavenging? |
| Vaughan, go |
| ... |
“Are you going to go scavenging for more supplies?” Nate asked in a quieter voice.
“We should.” Charlie answered. “The more we get the better. So you,” She pointed to Nate, “Need to stop talking to your boyfriend and get to work. And you," She pointed to Vaughan, “Need to stop being such a bitch and go to the truck.”
“Yes Mom.” Vaughan sighed and put a hand over his eyes. Nate smirked. Charlie glowered at Vaughan, tightening her hold on the weapon as she prepared to verbally rip into him, when she realized that Vaughan hadn’t noticed what he said. There had been no sarcasm in his voice or attitude in his gestures. She reluctantly let the comment go. She took a moment to fix the glasses on his face before stalking off.
“Yes Mom?” Nate repeated, laughing a little. “Surprised Charlie didn’t kick your ass for that. What was that all about?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Vaughan said, unsmiling. He placed his glasses on his face and sighed again. He rotated and flexed his left hand.
“Whatever man.” Nate grumbled, momentary good mood gone. That was it; he didn’t have to stay here with Sir stick-up-ass any longer. He had work to do. “Go to the truck.” He turned to walk away.
“...Wait.” Vaughan said.
| Fucking bye |
| Don’t bitch at me | | What? |
| ... |
Nate huffed, rolled his eyes, and turned back to Vaughan. “What?” He droned, moving the baby to the other arm. Vaughan quickly looked around to make sure Charlie wasn’t close by. He ran a hand through his hair before speaking.
“Ever since all of... this happened,” Vaughan gestured all around him. “I haven’t been able to go to the doctor. I need to see a doctor because...” Vaughan paused. “I think I’m getting worse. And I think hallucinations are a new symptom I’ve gotten, not just because of guilt.” He said this last bit with a bit of resentment, looking straight into Nate’s eyes. Nate looked away.
Vaughan sighed and closed his eyes. “I need to find a doctor...” He said.
| We will |
| Supplies first |
| How? |
| ... |
“We will find you a doctor.” Nate said. Vaughan opened his eyes and looked at him. Nate grabbed the younger man’s arm and pulled him forward. Vaughan stumbled a bit but allowed himself to be pulled. When they were beside each other Nate turned around, draped an arm over his friend’s shoulders, and walked towards the truck.
“You’re being an irritating dick,” Nate continued. “But I saved your ass before. Why would I let you die of cancer now?” Vaughan’s shoulders, which had been tense, slowly relaxed. Vaughan looked up at Nate, mouth twitching and glassy eyed. Nate looked back down at him and Vaughan tried to say something but no words came, so he averted his eyes instead. He still didn’t notice the baby.
They walked this way until they came to the passenger’s side of the truck. Nate let him go; Vaughan put his arms on the roof and lifted himself to the top. He placed the bag of arrows on his back and the bow in his lap. For someone who was supposed to act as a watchdog, Vaughan looked no more threatening than he had when he was on the ground; to Nate he somehow looked smaller up there.
“...I have an idea” Vaughan said. The baby yawned but Vaughan took no notice of her. “From what I saw on the map, we’re not that far away from downtown. I’m sure there’s a hospital or a pharmacy there. If we can get some temozolomide pills then it will buy us more time to find a doctor.”
“Temozo-what now?” Nate asked.
“It’s a chemotherapy drug.” Vaughan explained. “When Charlie made us write down the survival info before all the wifi shut down, I made sure to research about different kinds of cancer treatments. Temozolomide is one of the ones I remember the most because it’s the first time I ever heard of chemotherapy that doesn’t involve radiation or liquid injected into you. It’s the perfect option for me because I don’t have to rely on a machine and I can give it to myself without much effort.” He rotated his left shoulder.
| About downtown... |
| About Charlie... |
| If we can’t find it? |
| Exit |
“Going downtown will be fucking dangerous.” Nate warned him. “There will be zombies fucking everywhere.”
“I know.” Vaughan said, nodding slowly. “Even if half the population of infected left the city, that still leaves... how many? Thousands? Millions? It’s risky, I know, but it might be worth it in the long run.”
| About Charlie... |
| If we can’t find it? |
| Exit |
“How are we going to convince Charlie that it’s worth the risk?” Nate asked. “To her knowledge, we’re both healthy.” Vaughan bit his lower lip and looked in the direction that Charlie had walked off to. Nate looked as well and saw nothing but average, assumedly people free homes.
“We’re going to say...” Vaughan paused. “We’re going to say that we might need it later. We need to be prepared for the future right? I’m sure Charlie will understand that.”
| Still lying then? | | Want me to tell her? |
| Sounds good |
| ... |
“Want me to tell her?” Nate asked. Vaughan tried not to smile and failed.
“As long as you don’t tell her anything horrible like last time,” Vaughan said, trying to sound stern. “Then yes, that would be great. Thanks.”
“So I’ll tell her that we need a lifetime supply of Viagra.”
“W-what!? No!”
“Lots and lots of Viagra.”
Vaughan stuttered profusely and covered his reddening face with his hands.
| If we can’t find it? |
| Exit |
“What are we going to do if we can’t find it?” Nate asked. Vaughan looked down at his lap, his shoulders slumping.
“We’ll have to find a doctor faster then.” He said quietly.
| Exit |
“I should get back to work.” Nate told him.
“Alright,” Vaughan said. “But I want to know how you feel about going?” He looked at Nate apprehensively, his fingers playing with the string on his bow.
| Sounds good to me |
| I don’t like it | | You’re going anyways |
| ... |
“You’re going to go no matter what I say.” Nate told him.
(?) You didn’t answer Vaughan
“I don’t have a choice.” Vaughan said apologetically. “I’m getting worse and I don’t know how much time I have.”
“Then I’m going with you.” Nate said. He moved the baby to his other shoulder. “I’m not going to leave your dumb ass behind. Besides, it’s not like we have anywhere else to go anyways.” Vaughan’s eyes took on a glassy sheen again.
“Thank you.” Vaughan sighed.
“Whatever.” Nate said. “Can you hold-”
“Nate! Start the truck!” Charlie screamed from across the street. Both men quickly turned in her direction. She came running out of a house with a box full of supplies and a dozen monsters coming after her. Vaughan tried to stand but Nate grabbed hold of his arm.
“We’ll need all the ammo we’ve gone for downtown!” Nate told him before Vaughan could protest. “Just get into the truck!” Vaughan nodded, gathered his weaponry, hopped of the roof, and entered the truck. Nate ran around the front of the truck and to the driver’s side.
(o)
Nate took out his keys and unlocked the door.
(o)
With his hand holding the keys and his other arm holding the baby, he had to use the tips of his fingers to open the door. Charlie dropped the box into the back and slammed the tonneau cover shut. Nate sat inside the truck.
(o)
Nate tried to put the keys in the ignition, misses, and dropped the keys.
“Shit!” He said. Charlie jumped into the truck and slammed the door.
(o)
Nate picked up the keys. The zombies were moving past the backlights of the truck.
(o)
Nate put the keys in the ignition and turned. The engine roared. He stepped on the gas petal and sped off, leaving the creatures behind. The driver’s door flapped as he drove. The baby woke up and began to cry.
“Vaughan, hold her for a second.” He said, moving the arm holding the baby upward. Vaughan gawked at the little girl, taking her away from Nate without think about what he was doing. Nate used his now free hand to close the door shut.
“Nate, where did you get this baby?” Vaughan asked. He kept looking down at the baby in his lap, who he had managed to calm down after they left the neighborhood, like it was an illusion. Any moment now he would blink and the baby would be gone, his expression said. It wasn’t happening though.
| I found her |
| Not important | | I gave birth to her |
| ... |
Nate took is hands off the wheel and placed the baby back onto his lap. The baby made a gurgling noise as it was moved. He placed a hand on her stomach and turned himself into a car seat.
“I gave birth to her.” Nate said casually. The baby cooed as if vouching for him.
“I’m serious.” Vaughan said, his forehead wrinkling with concern.
“So am I.” Nate insisted. “Why wouldn’t I be? It hurt like hell to push her out. Look how big she is!” He shook the baby’s tummy and the little girl let out a happy screech. Charlie flinched.
“What the fuck was that?” Charlie demanded, glaring at the baby.
“Babies have a habit of screaming when they’re happy.” Vaughan explained, smiling at the baby but still managing to look concerned. “It’s their way of laughing. I think it’s because they don’t have much control over their vocal cords yet.”
“Whatever.” Charlie said dismissively. She looked at Nate and frowned. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to the hospital downtown.” Nate told her. Charlie raised her hands and looked at Nate like he had lost his mind.
“Why?” Charlie groaned.
| For future needs |
| For trading | | Viagra |
| ... |
“Because we need a lifetime supply of Viagra.” Nate snickered. Vaughan stuttered incoherently, his face turning red, before muffling an embarrassed scream into the palms of his hands. Charlie closed her eyes and dragged her hands down her face. The baby sucked on her tiny fist.
“Two things.” Charlie said, opening her eyes. “One, you are not fifty. You don’t need that. And two, I highly doubt your hand is going to care that you can’t keep it up.” Nate laughed so hard he couldn’t drive. He took his foot off the gas pedal and forced himself not to double over and accidentally crush the baby. The baby looked up at him with wide and confused eyes.
“Can we not talk about this?” Vaughan begged. “The reason we need to go to the hospital is because we need to stockpile on as much medicine as we can.”
“We can just go through the houses and take what we need from there.” Charlie told him.
“No.” Vaughan spoke through his teeth. Nate slowly stopped laughing. “We need to go to the hospital. They’ll be a bigger variety of medicine we can take. We can’t just rely on houses for the things we need. That’s stupid.”
"Stupid." She repeated. "I'm not stupid." Nate drove again.
"I never said you were."
"Nothing I do it stupid."
"Thinking that houses will give us everything is."
"What the hell is wrong with you, fuckface!?"
"...Nothing." Vaughan leaned forward, taking off his glasses and placing his right hand on his forehead as he rotated and flexed his left. It looked as though Vaughan was trying to keep his brain from leaking hot liquid out of his head. His face contorted briefly; his eyes squinted shut, his mouth disappeared into a tight line, and he hissed out air; before his features relaxed all at once. He leaned back into the chair and sighed.
An uncomfortable silence settled in the truck. The baby didn’t notice. She had made it her mission to try and touch the steering wheel. The landscape outside was transforming from mainly residential areas to small businesses. They would be downtown soon, but the distance was too far for Nate to be sitting in awkward silence.
| You two need to stop | | Honeymoon's over? |
| [Tell a story] |
| ... |
"I guess the honeymoon stage is over huh?" Nate asked, scratching his neck. Charlie scowled at him.
"You just couldn't let it be quiet in here, could you?" Charlie huffed. "You just had to say something, you and you big ass mouth. Do you ever go long periods of time without taking? I bet you don't." Vaughan frowned and closed his eyes.
| I don't in my sleep |
| I'm making things comfortable |
| Fuck you then |
| ... |
"I don't talk in my sleep." Nate told her. He turned on to the highway.
"I don't believe you." Charlie deadpanned.
"You don't?"
"No."
"Then sleep with me and find out." Nate offered. Charlie rolled her eyes but grinned a bit. Vaughan, however, did not find this amusing.
"I'm right here." Vaughan said without opening his eyes. "Please stop." Charlie crossed her arms.
"And why should he?" She challenged. "You haven't been a good boyfriend. I'm sure that Nate would do a much better job than you, seeing as you've been a little bitch for the last month." Vaughan's mouth twitched, his shoulders dropped and his head lowered, but he did not open his eyes nor replied.
“I’m confused.” Nate said. “Not even twenty minutes ago you backhanded me in the face, and now you think I’d be a good boyfriend?”
“I never said you would be a good boyfriend, I said you’d be better than this twink.” She corrected. “Nate, compliment me." Her eyes dared Vaughan to say something. He didn't. Nate let his eyes leave the road for a moment to look between both of his friends. Charlie had placed her hands on Vaughan's right leg, tapping her fingers against it as she patiently waited for praise. Vaughan sat still, his mouth twitching again.
| You're smart |
| You're hot | | You look like a boy |
| ... |
Nate looked back at the road.
"You look like a boy." He said casually. Charlie stared blankly at him, letting the words bounce around in her head before she began screeching. Vaughan's eyes opened wide.
(?) Charlie and Vaughan will remember that
"I said compliments Nate!" She shouted.
"A very pretty boy." Nate added. Vaughan's body began to tremble. He pressed his lips together and covered his mouth, but he couldn't hold it in. He threw his head back and began to laugh uncontrollably. Nate smiled and drove around a zombie standing in the middle of the road.
"This isn't funny! I do not look like a boy!" Charlie protested.
"There- there was this one time where... " Vaughan tried to speak through his laughter. "Where this gay guy was hitting on her because he thought she was a 'pretty boy' too and- and then... the boyfriend came and... do you remem-" Vaughan found it physically impossible to finish sentence and kept on laughing. Nate, thinking back to the moment Vaughan was referring to, laughed too.
"You two are fucking assholes!” Charlie said. “That man sic-ed his dog on me and I almost died!"
Nate and Vaughan laughed harder, the older man had to stop driving again. The baby happy-screeched.
“I still think this is fucking stupid.” Charlie grumbled. They walked down the street where the hospital was. Nate had parked the truck a block away from the hospital after the three of them had reluctantly agreed that, if the hospital were packed with zombies and they had to get away, it would be better to outrun them and then drive off than park closer and be overwhelmed before they could leave.
“There isn’t going to be any medication left in the hospital.” Charlie continued to complain. Nate felt her glaring at the back of his head. “It would have been one of the first places people raided when they realized things weren’t going to be fixed. We’re going to go into the hospital, see nothing, and then the zombies will come and fucking eat us.” Vaughan shook his head.
“I disagr- Whoa!” He tripped. Nate stopped walking and turned to look. Vaughan’s arms spun has he tried to keep himself from falling. He hopped once before finding his footing and balancing out. Charlie raised an eyebrow at him.
“Remember,” Vaughan went on like nothing happened. “When the sick started turning into monsters, the government told everyone to keep their sick at home and stay away from the hospitals? Even though people didn’t know where the disease came from, they treated hospitals like ground zero for the virus. No one would have wanted to go there for supplies.” Vaughan rotated his left shoulder, stopped, and rotated his wrist.
“...You have a point.” Charlie admitted after a moment. “But it’s still dangerous.”
| It’ll be fine |
| We’ll be careful | | Where’s your balls? |
| ... |
“Charles, where did your balls go?” Nate joked, walking forward again. He tilted a head in her direction. “You were so brave half an hour ago.”
(?) Charlie and Vaughan will remember that
“It has nothing to do with bravery Nate. It’s common sense.” Charlie said. “And stop calling me Charles!” Nate turned around and walked backwards. He moved the baby away from his chest, lifted her in front of his head, and made her face Charlie.
“What you need,” He said. “Is some baby motivation.” He cleared his throat and began to speak in a high voice. “You can do it Charlie! You just have to believe in yourself! Yay!” He shook the baby. Vaughan snickered and Charlie rolled her eyes. “Yay!” He shook the baby again.
“Nate, I think you should stop.” Vaughan chuckled. “The baby looks like she’s going to puke.” Nate turned the baby back around. She pouted at him and looked a bit green.
| Oops | | Don’t puke |
| Sorry |
| ... |
“Don’t puke on me, you gross ass baby.” Nate told her before settling the baby back onto his chest.
“You know, for someone who thinks that babies are gross you handle one pretty well... ish.” Vaughan said.
“Oh please.” Nate snorted. “I’m horrible with kids. I’m surprised this one isn’t dead yet.”
“We’re here.” Charlie said. Nate stopped walking and looked to his right. The other buildings on the street had an illusionistic normality to them. If the few broken windows, blood, and dead bodies could be ignored then the buildings only looked momentarily neglected, as if someone had meant to maintain the buildings while the entire population went on a massive fieldtrip and had forgotten their duties.
The hospital, on the other hand, made no attempt to appear as if things were normal. Unlike the other buildings that had very little damaged windows, almost all the windows in the hospital were broken, bloodstained, or both. There were bullet holes on its structure, especially around the windows, which gave Nate the mental image of people shooting zombies that were trying to crawl out of them. The fact that many hole filled bodies, not all zombies, where littered on the ground made him believe that was what had happened.
The worst aspect of this place was the front door. It was boarded up multiple times from up to bottom. There were words written in spray paint. All capitals.
“Please don’t.” Vaughan read aloud. Please don’t. To Nate, those words where worse than any ‘Beware’, ‘Don’t open’, or ‘Dead inside’ sign that could ever be. Those other signs always felt like there was a challenge inside of the warning, secretly daring people to disobey. Not this one though. This one felt like there was real concern for whoever came across the hospital. Like it couldn’t warn people of the danger because the danger was too great for words, so it could only beg people not to go inside.
“I’m going to ask the both of you one last time.” Charlie said, turning away from the hospital and looking at them. “Is the risk of going into this hospital really worth whatever we might find?” Vaughan and Nate looked at each other. A wordless conversation passed through the two of them.
Nate arched an eyebrow. ‘Do you still want to do this?’
Vaughan raised his hand to the side of his head and tapped it with a finger. ‘I still have brain cancer.’ Nate nodded.
Vaughan spoke up. “I think it’s worth it.” Charlie inspected the two of them, frowned, and looked back at the door.
“Alright then.” She said. “We’re going to have to find another way in though. It’ll be too noisy to break off the boards on the door.” Vaughan walked towards the bodies and Charlie walked back and forth on the street, inspecting the hospital.
“Well, this seems like it’ll take some time.” Nate told the baby. “You want to help?” The baby cooed at him and touched his face.
“Aren’t you going to help?” Nate asked, stopping Charlie midstride. She frowned at Nate before looking back at the hospital.
“I am helping.” Charlie explained shortly. “I’m looking at the hospital from farther back to see if I notice anything the two of you don’t from looking up close. Are you helping by distracting me?”
“Bwah!” The baby interjected.
“Yeah, bwah!” Nate agreed. Charlie rolled her eyes and resumed walking.
(o) Show baby
Nate turned the baby towards Charlie. Charlie stopped walking.
“...Why are you pointing the puppy at me?” Charlie asked.
“She’s inspecting you.” Nate told her. “Seeing if you know a way inside the building.” Charlie stared at Nate and then walked away.
“She has no respect for your expertise.” Nate informed the little girl. This did not bother the baby. Nate walked towards the hospital.
(o) Look at door
Please don’t. Those words still bothered him. He knew something bad would happen if he went in, but what choice did he have? Vaughan needed the medication. Please don’t.
“Damn...” Nate said to himself.
(o) Show baby
“You see that drool-o-rama?” Nate asked as he pointed the baby to the door. “That’s someone trying to warn us not to go in. We’re not listening because we’re dumb.” The baby grabbed at the boards. She pulled, but nothing happened.
“Nice try.” Nate said as he moved the baby away from the door. “We can’t break the boards down anyways. It’ll make too much noise.”
(o) Talk to Vaughan
Vaughan stood hunched over on the dying grass, looking at the bodies on the ground and loosely hugging himself.
“Figure out anything?” Nate asked Vaughan as he walked closer to him. Vaughan kept staring at the bodies on the ground.
“I keep hoping that they killed all the zombies whenever this happened.” Vaughan gestured his head towards the pile of bodies. “But... I don’t want this to happen to us. I don’t want my cancer to be the reason we all die.” Nate looked away from Vaughan.
“...Let’s focus on finding a way inside.” Nate said. Vaughan looked up at him, nodded, and looked back at the bodies.
(o) Show baby
Nate turned the baby towards Vaughan. After pausing for a moment, he raised the baby in front of his head and cleared his throat.
“You might be sick but you look good to me!” Nate said with a high voice, moving the baby as if she were the one talking. Vaughan looked at baby and tilted his head, confused. “Don’t worry about your cancer! We’re going to find you a doctor and you’re going to be okay! Yay!” Nate shook the baby. Vaughan stared at her before a smile slowly grew on his face.
“...Thank you.” Vaughan said. He straightened his back.
“Let’s go look for a way inside!” The ‘baby’ cheered.
“Okay.” Vaughan said with a nod.
(o) Look at window
Nate walked up to the window. There was a large hole in the center, the rest of the glass pointing to it like large knives. It was directly above all the bodies.
“If we can break the glass away we could just pull ourselves through.” Nate said to himself. “But how are we going to break it without making noise?”
(o) Show baby
“You see all this glass?” He asked the baby. “We have to find a way to- Shit!” The baby grabbed hold of one of the pieces of glass. She didn’t hurt herself yet. He carefully let go of one arm supporting the baby’s weight and used it to slowly remove the baby’s hand from the glass. As he was moving her hand, and internally swearing about the little brat’s stupidity, he felt the glass move.
“You could have cut your hand, you dumbass!” Nate chastised when he finally removed her hand from the window. “...You did give me an idea though. I can just pull the glass out of the window.”
“Ah!” The baby said.
“No, not ‘ah’, you’re still a dumbass.” Nate replied.
(o) Pull out glass
“Hey Vaughan.” Nate called. Vaughan walked up beside him.
“Ye-” Vaughan began to ask until he suddenly had an armful of baby. He lost balance for a moment before straightening out. The baby cooed at him and tried to grab his glasses.
“Thanks.” Nate said. He took of his jacket and began pulling out the pieces of glass, holding the jacket in his hands to protect them from the sharp edges. Charlie noticed what he was doing and walked towards him. It took Nate a minute to get all the pieces out.
“There we go.” Nate said when he was done. He opened his jacket and saw multiple holes varying size ripped into it. He thought about shaking his jacket out and putting it back on, but changed his mind and draped it over the window. He placed his arm on the ledge and turned towards Vaughan and Charlie.
“You ready?” He asked the both of them.
“No, but let’s go.” Charlie and Vaughan said in unison. Charlie’s tone was irritable and edgy. Vaughan voice was low and filled with apprehension. Nate sighed and pulled himself through the window. He took a flashlight out of his backpack and turned it on. Vaughan handed him the baby and went through, falling on the floor when he lost balance. Charlie went through as Vaughan was standing back up.
Nate pointed the flashlight in front of them. There were bullet holes in the walls, though not as many as there had been on the front of the building. Papers littered the floor. Dark blood was splattered over the walls and pooled on the ground. It was dark were the light from outside wasn’t reaching, and this darkness seemed more dangerous than Nate had ever seen before. He knew it was just in his head, but it looked like the darkness was eating the light instead of fading into it.
“We are going to go in.” Charlie whispered abruptly as she took her flashlight out and turned it on. “We are going to take whatever we can find as quickly as we can and then we are fucking out. Understand?” Nate and Vaughan nodded.
“We have to find the pharmacy first.” Vaughan said as he took out his flashlight. He turned it on and the light from his flashlight circled around the hallway as he rotated his left wrist.
“There’s a map on wall at the end of the hallway.” Nate told them, pointing his flashlight to it. They walked forward. Another hallway started at the end of the hallway they were in. When they reached the end, Nate held his hand out. Vaughan and Charlie stopped. Nate looked both ways, making sure both ends were clear, and walked in front of the map. The other two followed.
(o) Look at map
“We have to go right from where we are and walk down to the end of the hallway.” Nate said, tracing the path with his fingers. ”Then turn left and walk until we see the pharmacy.”
“That isn’t very far.” Vaughan observed.
“Yeah, if there wasn’t the possibility of a monster popping out at you.” Charlie said. They all paused at that comment before Nate turned right and continued walking. Vaughan and Charlie followed him.
The baby was being mercifully quiet as they made their journey down the corridors of the hospital. Even so, their footfalls sounded like clashing cymbals to their ears no matter how gently they walked, their breathing like trumpets no matter how lightly they respired, and their heartbeats banged like war drums no matter how hard they tried calm down. Nate thought the monsters would hear them, even though he knew they were being too quiet for that to happen. The creatures would hear them, the noise they were making would be unacceptable to their dead ears, and they would sprint to the three of them and they would be eaten alive for daring to come here.
Nothing like that happened. They found the pharmacy and went inside without any trouble. Though they still weren’t safe, Vaughan took a huge sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. Nate looked around.
“Aw shit.” He said. Vaughan almost asked him what was wrong until he noticed the state of the pharmacy for the first time. There were a few medicine bottles and boxes laying around, but other than those stray items the room was stripped bare. Even the storage room in the back of the pharmacy was open, and as far as Nate could see that was empty too.
Vaughan stuttered incomprehensibly, completely surprised by this turn of events. Charlie looked mildly annoyed.
“There are some bottles still lying around.” Nate told the other two. “We take what we can and we’ll leave. Vaughan, you see that room in the back? Go in and see if you can find anything. Charlie, you pick up whatever is on the ground here.” Charlie nodded and got to work. Vaughan forced himself to move towards the room in the back. Nate started walking after him when Charlie spoke up.
“One of you is sick.” Charlie told him. Nate looked at her, wide eyed.
| We weren’t bitten |
| No we aren’t |
| How’d you find out? |
| ... |
“We weren’t bitten Ch-” Nate began.
“That’s not what I mean.” Charlie interrupted him. “When you called me on the phone, you lied to me because you wanted me to come right away. You wanted to tell me that one of you was sick. I don’t know why you had to take the roundabout way but that’s not important. Which one of you is sick? Is it Vaughan? Is it you? The both of you?” Charlie frowned. “We’re you and Vaughan lying about lying before? Did you get my boyfriend sick?”
“Are you... are you asking me if I gave Vaughan an STD?” Nate asked, astonished that she was suggesting that.
“Did you?” Charlie asked.
“Fucking no Charlie!” Nate said a bit too loud. They both paused and looked around. No zombies came.
“Then what is it?” Charlie demanded. “Which one of you is sick and what do you have?”
| It’s Vaughan |
| I’m sick |
| No one is sick |
| ... |
Before Nate could speak Charlie raised her hand.
“I changed my mind. Don’t tell me now.” Charlie told him. “We don’t have luxury to talk much, in fact I shouldn’t have distracted you. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.” Charlie frowned at him. “But the moment we get outside you and your boyfriend are going to tell me exactly what’s going on. And if you try to keep it from me any longer I will kick both of you in the balls I swear to God.”
Nate raised a hand in the air. “Alright. Okay.” He said.
“Good. Now get whatever it is that you or Vaughan or the both of you need and let’s get the hell out of here.” Charlie said. She turned her attention back to the ground and picked out more stray bottles. Nate moved away from her and walked to the back room.
(o) Talk to Vaughan
He saw movement in the dark room and pointing his flashlight at it. Vaughan flinched when the light hit him and nearly fell over.
“Vaughan-” Nate began.
“Nate, I can’t any temozolomide!” Vaughan said after he forced himself to stop stuttering.
| You said that quickly |
| Look harder |
| It’s okay |
| ... |
“How do you say that word so quickly?” Nate wondered. “I mean shit, I can’t even say it speaking normally.”
“Nate I’m being serious!” Vaughan whispered as loudly as he could. “I can’t find it! What am I supposed to do? Will we have to go to another hospital? Did I risk all of our lives for no reason? I-” He put his hands to his head and looked at the ground. “What am I going to do?”
| Breathe first |
| You’re really annoying |
| The hospital has more meds |
| ... |
“The first thing you’re going to do is breathe, slowly.” Nate put a hand on his shoulder. Vaughan lowered his arms and slowed his breathing down. After a few dozen breaths he looked up at Nate.
“Now, you’re going to wait for me to come back.” Nate told him. Before Vaughan could ask what he meant Nate continued. “I’m going to look around. I’m sure the hospital has more than one place where they keep their medication. I’ll try to find it. You keep looking in there, maybe you’ll find something.” Nate let go of Vaughan’s shoulder.
“Alright.” Vaughan said. “Be careful.” Nate nodded and walked away. Charlie didn’t look at him when he passed her and walked out of the pharmacy.
He went two halls away from the pharmacy when he realized that his arms felt very tired. He looked at the baby and the baby stared back at him.
“You get really heavy after a while, you know that?” Nate told the baby. The baby didn’t care. She rested her head on his shoulder and wiggled a bit. “Rude ass baby.” Nate said under his breath. He found an elevator and went towards it.
(o) Look at sign
There was a sign near the elevator that showed what kind of practice was done on each floor. Cancer treatment was on floor five.
“I have to go up five flights of fucking stairs with this heavy ass baby.” Nate groaned. “Goddamn it.” He turned to his right, saw the doors for the stairs, and walked.
(o) Look at doors
There were multiple pieces of metal shoved in between the handles of doors. All of them had a slight bend that pointed forward.
“I better pull these out if I’m going to get up stairs. I just hope whatever these were keeping in are gone now.”
(o)
He pulled one out and placed it on the floor.
(o)
And then another.
(o)
And another.
(o)
And another.
(o)
Another.
(o)
The second last one was out.
(o)
“There.” Nate said as the final piece of metal came out.
(o) Listen at door
Nate put his ear to the door and listened. He thought he hear the door creak but nothing more.
(o) Open door
Nate moved the baby to the other arm and held onto the handle.
“Ready?” He asked the baby. The baby sighed. Nate opened the door, leaning his free shoulder on the edge to keep it open, and pointed his flashlight.
The corridor was packed with zombies.
Nate stepped back and tried to force the door closed. The bodies of the monsters stopped the door from closing all the way. Nate ran. His arms were heavy. The moans of zombies trailed after him. Nate almost fell. A door broke as he past it and more zombies came out. Nate’s arms left weak. He turned the corner and nearly collided with a zombie. He moved out of the way. It grabbed for him and missed. Nate ran faster. He almost dropped the baby. She didn’t cry. The moans were getting louder. Nate made it to the pharmacy and had to put the baby down on a counter before he accidentally let her fall. His arms felt weighed down by stones.
“Charlie! Vaughan! We got to go now!” He screamed. Charlie and Vaughan didn’t wait for an explanation and followed him as he ran out the pharmacy. They sprinted down the halls, the lights of their flashlights dancing crazily all around them, until they made it to the window they first came out of and jumped through.
Both Nate and Charlie made it to the other side unharmed, but Vaughan landed badly and his head hit the ground. Charlie helped him up.
“My head...” Vaughan groaned. “I was already having a headache and... fuck...”
“Let’s get back to the truck. We don’t need to be here anymore.” Charlie said. Nate gave a small nod, irritated with himself. He ruined their chance at getting the cancer pills and now-
“Nate?” Vaughan asked, his face tense with pain. “Where’s the baby?” Nate looked at him blankly, wondering what the hell he was talking about, until he noticed that his arms felt much lighter than they had before. Faintly, he heard the baby crying from inside.
“Oh my God.” Nate said, his voice slowly filling with terror. He moved towards the window when Charlie grabbed his arm.
“Leave the baby.” Charlie told him. Nate stared at her. A dark haze passed over his eyes.
“...What?” He growled, his voice low and deadly.
“If you go in there, you’ll die. If you bring the baby out here, zombies from all over will come and overwhelm us before we can leave. You can fight me, you can shoot me, but I am telling the truth.” Charlie said quickly. Nate looked away from her. She was right. “We have to-”
“No!” Vaughan cried through his pain. “Nate, you have to get her! I know you don’t like children and I know you said we have to do anything to survive, but she’s just a baby! Please! You h-” Vaughan couldn’t finish, his migraine was too strong. He gripped his head and groaned.
“Nate, either we all die or the three of us get to live.” Charlie told him, letting go of his arm. “That’s what your choices really are.” Nate looked at Charlie, then Vaughan, and then through the window. He should go, take Charlie and Vaughan and get out of the city as quickly as he could. He barely knew the baby. He didn’t even know her name. He didn’t know if she really was a she at all. He didn’t owe her anything. His friends were is priority, not some stranger he found.
Nate ran to the window and threw himself back inside.
“Nate!” Charlie screamed.
“Go to the truck!” He screamed back. They wouldn’t be able to get inside, he still had the keys, but he didn’t care. His feet barely touched the ground as he dashed towards the pharmacy. He saw zombies slowly trudging towards the crying sounds and pulled out his gun. He shot, he dodged, he shoved, and ran around all the monsters that came his way.
Then the crying turned into the worst sound Nate ever heard. It was a shrill, panicked noise that hit such a high octave that it could break glass, and it got higher and higher as Nate ran forward. It was filled with hysterical pain, a sound that only people in hell could empathize with. And it was coming from a baby, that was the worst part, it was coming from a child and children were never supposed to make sounds like that.
Then it stopped. It didn’t gradually turn into sniffles and then soft moaning sounds like when Vaughan had calmed her down in the truck, and it didn’t fade away like when Nate had fed her in the nursery. Just stopped. Like it hadn’t been there at all.
Nate stopped in front of the pharmacy when this had happened, zombies all around him but not noticing his presence, not yet. If he had just left when the crying ceased to be, then it wouldn’t have been as terrible. The sounds of the baby would have haunted him but he wouldn’t have had visuals to go with them. Unfortunately, he didn’t go. He stayed standing there, looking into the pharmacy.
And when the zombie walked out with a bloody mess in its hands, he saw exactly what had happened to the baby.
“Nate, where are we going?” Charlie asked again. Nate didn’t answer her. He kept his eyes on the road. Distantly he realized that Charlie had been asking him this for the past hour. In this same distant and robotic part of his brain he had also been evaluating how he felt again.
He had been in serious emotion pain due to the baby’s death. It felt as someone had electrocuted his soul. The guilt, sadness, the what-ifs and anger had hit him so fast that his brain didn’t know how to handle it. So his mind simply decided to shut all his emotions off. And now he was driving aimlessly.
He found this fascinating in a cold and clinical way.
He thought that he must have not gone through something like this before if his brain decided that the best way to deal with all of these emotions was to not deal with them at all. That was quite pathetic, he thought he was stronger than that. Oh well.
He also found it odd that the baby’s death did not effect how he felt about the deaths the other people. Nate assumed at one point that he was only suppressing his guilt towards the people he hurt, and if were to feel something one day then all the guilt from what happened to Anya and Hanna and Guatier would come flooding in and he would be a wreck. That hadn’t happen. His feelings towards them had stayed the same.
Nate was interested in what that said about him. Was he really a psychopath? Was he still suppressing his guilt of their deaths and not realizing it? Or was something else wrong with him? Nate wanted to know, though it wasn’t as if anyone could tell him.
“Nate.” Charlie said sternly. Nate turned his eyes off the road and expressionlessly stared at Charlie. She looked frustrated and a bit scared. Nate couldn’t remember if Charlie had ever been scared of him before. Vaughan was sleeping, his head tapping gently against the window whenever the car bumped. Nate looked away from Charlie and stared in front of him.
The sky was dark. There were stars out. Nate was vaguely confused. It had been the afternoon when he got into the truck and drove out of the city. Had he been driving the entire time? He looked at the gas gauge and saw that it was almost empty. It had almost been full when he got into the truck.
“We need gas.” Nate said. He noticed the emotion had left his voice as well and also found that interesting. He pulled to the parking lot of a restaurant and stopped the truck. He got out, felt pressure in his bladder, saw a restroom and walked in.
When he finished his business, he stepped out of the stall and saw Charlie standing there. He stared at her in the broken down, strong smelling bathroom.
| Hello | | This is the male’s bathroom |
| Go away |
| ... |
“This is the male’s bathroom.” He told her. Nate went to the sink to wash his hands. The sink didn’t work.
“Nate, you have to snap out of it.” Charlie said firmly. “I let you act like you’re brain dead for the last five hours but you have to stop. Now.” Nate blinked.
| Five hours? |
| Leave me alone |
| Okay |
| ... |
“Five hours?” Nate said aloud. “I see.” Charlie growled. She walked closer Nate, grabbed his collar, and pulled him closer to her. Nate let himself be pulled.
“I don’t understand why you feel so bad now.” Charlie snarled. “You told me that you barely felt anything when you killed that bitch before, and you hardly give a shit when I killed the parents of that goddamn baby your so hung over! The puppy was just another obstacle in our way, so just get over her like you got over the others alred-” Nate grabbed Charlie’s arms and slammed her into a stall door. It made a loud bang as her back collided with metal. Nate’s eyes burned into hers. He had snapped out of it.
“I don’t understand why you can’t get over it. You’ve killed before.” Charlie told him.
| You knew |
| Shut up | | Not children |
| ... |
“Not. Fucking. Children!” Nate roared. “I never killed a child, you sick fuck!”
“So that’s the problem?” Charlie sounded genuinely curious. “It was her age?” Nate pulled her back from the stall door and slammed her back into it. She groaned and shook her head.
| Never again |
| I hate you |
| Would you kill us? |
| ... |
“Never again! Do you hear me!?” Nate thundered. “If we come across another child, none of us are killing shit! Do you understand!?”
“I understand that you’re not going to.” Charlie said. “But I’m not letting anybody put us in danger.” Nate was shaking with rage. He pulled her back and slammed her back onto the stall door even harder now. Charlie hissed in pain.
“I’m going to kill you.” Nate said in a low voice.
“No you won’t.” Charlie told him.
| Fuck you |
| Not today | | [Kill Charlie] |
| ... |
Nate took his hands off of Charlie’s shoulder and wrapped them around her neck. Charlie flinched, her eyes bulged, and that look of fear passed over her again. Nate laughed. It was low and unstable.
(?) Charlie will remember that
“Whose not doing what now, bitch?” Nate asked. He squeezed his hands. Charlie’s fear grew, but after a moment the fear left her face and she gave Nate a bored look.
“Nate.” She said with some difficulty. “If you’re going to kill me, you have to squeeze harder than that.” Nate looked at his hands and tried to press down. He couldn’t. Charlie slowly moved her hands on top of his. He flinched and tried to choke her again. He still couldn’t do it. Charlie held his hands and slowly moved them away from her neck. He lowered his head and let her move his hands to his sides.
“...Okay,” Charlie said. “If we’re done here then we need to-” The bathroom door flew open and Vaughan came in, his bow and arrow ready to fire. Charlie and Nate froze.
“Vaughan?” Charlie asked. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Where are Charlie and Nate?” Vaughan demanded. Nate and Charlie looked at each other confused before looking back at Vaughan.
“...That’s us.” Charlie said. Vaughan shook his head furiously.
“No. You’re not them.” Vaughan said, pointing his weapon at her. “Where are they? What have you done with my friends!?”
“Oh shit.” Nate murmured. “He’s hallucinating.” Charlie stared at him, baffled. “Charlie, don’t say anything. Let me deal with this.”
“She isn’t Charlie!” Vaughan screamed. He pointed the bow and arrow at Nate.
| It’s us | | You’re right |
| What do you see? |
| ... |
“You’re right.” Nate said, slowly raising his hands in the air. “We aren’t your friends. But we know where they are.” Charlie gawked at him.
“Where are they?” Vaughan asked with a trembling voice.
“I’ll tell you.” He said. “But you have to deal with the man behind you first.” Vaughan spun around. Nate ran and tackled him. They both went flying out of the bathroom. When they hit the ground outside Vaughan rolled away from Nate, stood up, and tried to get his arrow ready. Nate stood up and ran towards him.
(o)
Nate punched Vaughan hard in the stomach. Vaughan dropped his weapon and held his midsection, wheezing as he tried to keep upright.
(o)
Nate drew his arm back and punched him in the face. Vaughan’s head whipped to the side and his glasses flew off. He collapsed to the ground. Nate stood above him and waited for him to get up. He didn’t.
“God, I hope I didn’t hurt him too badly.” Nate sighed as he knelt down beside younger man. Charlie came out of the bathroom and stood behind him.
“That is fucking it!” Charlie said. “I want to know what you two are hiding from me right now! No more lies, no more ‘pretty eyes’ shit! I want to know now!” Nate moved Vaughan onto his back.
“Nate!” Charlie screamed. Nate looked at her.
| He has cancer |
| He’ll tell you |
| Why should we? |
| ... |
Nate looked back at Vaughan. “He has cancer.” Nate said quietly. He felt Charlie stare at him.
“What?” Charlie asked. Nate put to fingers to Vaughan’s neck and checked his pulse. It was beating fast but slowing down.
“He has a tumor in his brain. It’s at stage three and his doctor told him that his chances aren’t very good. I shouldn’t have hit him in the head...” Charlie went quiet. When she spoke up, her voice was very low and firm.
“We’re not leaving him.” Charlie said. “He’s mine. You don’t mess with my shit.” Vaughan moved. He groaned, opened his eyes. Nate grabbed his shoulders and helped him to a sitting positioned. Vaughan looked around, momentarily lost in his own head, before becoming slowly more aware of his surrounding. He looked at Nate.
“We didn’t find any medication...” Vaughan said slowly. “I put the two of you in danger and a baby died because of me...”
“Vaughan!” Charlie interrupted. “When were you going to tell me you had cancer!?” He looked up at her, startled and confused. His body tensed up and be began to stutter; trying to explain himself, trying to apologize for not telling her sooner and getting sick in the first place. Then his body slowly relaxed and he began to laugh. He was smiling but his laughter sounded like sobs. Nate stood up and walked away from the angry woman and the hysterical man.
He found Vaughan’s glasses, picked them up, and looked up at the sky. The stars were still beautiful even after everything had gone to hell. He found himself wishing he were put there. He would suffocate from the lack of oxygen and the pressure of space would destroy his insides, but at least he would be with the stars and not here where everything had gone to shit.
Ha, this is so awesome! I've been really hanging to see if nate is in season 2, and I love this story. It is really good, you did an amazing job. I can't wait to see what happens next, even though I dread what will (with the whole saga involving Wyatt and Eddie)
I also wish Vaughan and Charlie were characters in the actual video game. It's a shame really, since you've got this geeky guy and a girl arguing to kill a baby. It was really fascinating to read about how Nate would have acted around a child, considering he becomes a messed up psychopath by time it's day 41.
Keep posting, you've done a really great job so far!
I read it and well.... Wow, no really wow, that was some messed up sh*t, you killed the baby, why? it was really sad, my eyes there watering a little I'm sad now, good job Visambros, turns out Nate cared for children after all
Ha, this is so awesome! I've been really hanging to see if nate is in season 2, and I love this story. It is really good, you did an amazing job. I can't wait to see what happens next, even though I dread what will (with the whole saga involving Wyatt and Eddie)
I also wish Vaughan and Charlie were characters in the actual video game. It's a shame really, since you've got this geeky guy and a girl arguing to kill a baby. It was really fascinating to read about how Nate would have acted around a child, considering he becomes a messed up psychopath by time it's day 41.
Keep posting, you've done a really great job so far!
I read it and well.... Wow, no really wow, that was some messed up sh*t, you killed the baby, why? it was really sad, my eyes there watering a little I'm sad now, good job Visambros, turns out Nate cared for children after all
I do believe it, keep up the great work man, it's a blast reading.
Thank you all so much for your kind words. You have no idea how much your interest means to me. I'm going to try really hard to make the rest of the chapters just as good and even better than the ones I have now.
I just finished the whole thing, and it's pretty freaking awesome. It has that perfect walking dead feeling. I'm just a bit sad because I'm pretty damn sure it's Vaughn who gets shot by Eddie. Also, Charlie's gonna have to die before that. Or disappear like Lilly. Whatever, keep up the good work
1- I've begun planning episode 3 (though I'm having difficulties because I've changed how things are going to happen).
2- I've named the first and second episodes of The Walking Dead: Real Monsters (because they can't go without names). Episode 1 is called Beyond Moral Support and Episode 2 is called Nursing Danger.
Comments
We'll see~
After all the chapters are done, I'm planning on making some special chapter(s) about how things would have changed if you made different choices.
As far as what happens if you don't fight back, this is not set in stone but here's what I'm thinking (Long story short): The neighbours grab Vaughan and injure him, making him walk with a slight limp for the rest of the story. Nate tries to hold Charlie back but she freaks out and kills a few of them. Nate and friends run away and drive off.
The difference with this choice and the original one is that this choice makes Vaughan lack any grudge against Nate (because even though Nate let him get injured, Nate didn't hurt any 'innocent' people) and focuses all his anger on Charlie (because Charlie killed people). While Charlie is angry at Nate for not defending Vaughan.
So I was writing the second chapter of this fic when I realized that, in order to make it better, I would have to rewrite everything!
...Okay not really everything but I do have to start over. And I was 3312 words in!
Why?
Thank you.
I'm 787 words into my Take 2 of chapter 2 now. If I can write 2525 more words today I'll be caught up to were I was before.
This was the original opening of the second chapter of The Walking Dead: Real Monsters before I decided to start over. Because I’m not going to use it in the fic, and because I think it’s really good, I figure I may as well post it here.
Contains no spoilers for the newer version.
The undead creature stopped midway through its dragging stride in the middle of the road. The pupils in its cloudy eyes contracted as it heard a rumbling hum coming from its right. The noise wasn’t there before. The noise was getting louder. The noise was food and food must be stalked. It must be ganged up upon, bitten, shredded, devoured.
Turned.
The monster positioned itself towards the noise and walked, groaning constantly as it had ever since it stopped being a man with partner and children, and became a thing devoted solely to eating and infecting.
The noise was even closer, now accompanied by two round glowing lights and a metal frame. The zombie’s steps became hurried as it prepared to get through the metal and at the meal inside.
The rumbling hum quieted as the metal frame and lights slowed to a stop. The metal was stationary for a moment, watching as the monster gradually closed the distance between them. A glass shield from the side of the metal lowered itself and food came out. It sat themselves on the edge of the frame where the glass shield once was and held a stick in their hand.
The metal frame began to screech as sped towards the creature. The food raised the arm holding the stick. The zombie growled, exposing teeth filled with the food debris of it's former family’s flesh. It stretched rotting hands out to the food, wanting to grab the food and consume them.
The metal swerved around the monster. The food brought the stick down on the thing’s head. There was a loud cracking noise as fragments of the creature’s skull were forced into its brain.
The zombie died for the second time before its body hit the pavement.
I just thought about something, if Nate does a different lie does Charlie's weapon of choice change? That would be kinda cool.
You know what? I didn't think about that before, but that would be cool. Though if we pretend that this is an actual video game, I don't know if that would happen.
Thank you. The second chapter should be out soon.
The story is tailored by how you play.
TELLTALE GAMES
presents
SKYBOUND ENTERTAINMENT
Nate always acknowledged the aesthetics of houses; the impressive designs of mansions, quaintness of cottages, the unoriginality of copycat complexes; but he never known how much energy radiated off of these places. Never known how much he could feel this energy, albeit subconsciously. Whether people were cooking, cleaning, fucking, bathing; whether people loved life or hated it; the lives of others flowed off of them and circulated in their homes. And their homes, in turn, made the world warm.
Now all the people abandoned their homes and no matter how different all the houses looked from each other, they felt as dead as the rest of the world. All the energy had faded into space, possibly to another planet where things hadn’t gone to hell. This neighborhood so similar to the one they had run away from five weeks ago was no exception. Nate was surprised by how much he cared.
“These houses don’t look like they’ve been raided yet.” Nate sounded more indifferent than he felt. “We might have hit the jackpot.”
(o) Look at house door
There was a symbol on three of the doors, a number eight with a vertical line down the middle and a small cross to the upper right. The cross was their way of signifying to each other that they were in the house, and the slashed eight told them that the house was emptied of anything useful. Charlie had come up with the signs.
“Three already? How is she going through the houses so quickly? The truck isn’t that full.” Nate wondered. “Maybe there’s no jackpot after all...” He looked at the fourth house to his right and made his way towards it.
He walked up the steps of the house to the porch and stood in front of the door.
(o) Open door
Many people assumed that things would blow over and they would be able to return home again. They assumed they wouldn’t die before being able to go back. So they boarded the windows and locked the doors to keep their belongings safe until they could return. However, there were always a few homes that didn’t take those precautions. Nate didn’t understand why, but it didn’t matter to him. What was important was making sure that the doors were not already open before trying to break through and make unnecessary noise.
Nate grabbed the knob and turned. It was locked.
“Worth a shot.” He said.
(o) Kick door
Nate positioned himself sideways from the door, his dominant leg closest to it. He raised his leg and lightly tapped the area just below the knob to get a feel for where he was going to kick. He lowered his foot, took a moment to prepare himself, raised his leg again and-
“Hey!” A voice said behind him. Nate kicked the doorknob. A circle of pain assaulted the bottom of his foot. Nate yelped, lost balance, and fell down. He hopped back up, quickly turned towards the voice, and readied his gun.
It was Charlie. She stood in front of the railing of the porch, looking up at him with a bored expression despite the gun pointed at her.
“Don’t shoot.” Charlie deadpanned, waving her fingers in the air with one hand and holding the butcher’s knife with the other.
| Don’t sneak up on me |
| My foot hurts |
| ... |
Nate put the gun in his the back of his pants and frowned. “Don’t sneak up on me!” Nate said. “I could have fucking shot you!”
“Why are you so jumpy today?” Charlie said, rolling her eyes.
“I’m not jumpy, I wasn’t expecting you.” Nate insisted. “I thought we were supposed to go through the houses individually. Why aren’t you at a house right now?”
“I wanted to talk to you. Alone.” Charlie said.
| About what |
| Now? |
| ... |
Nate stared at her for a moment before smiling. He leaned over the railing and leered at her.
“What do you want to talk about?” Nate asked suggestively. Charlie stood up on her toes and flicked him on the forehead. Nate swore and pulled back.
“Not that you asshole!” Charlie hissed. “You are such a pig!”
“Alright, alright, I’m sorry.” Nate said, rubbing his forehead and not really sorry. “What do you want to talk about?”
“Follow me.” Charlie said, not answering him. She walked to the side of the house. Nate rotated his right ankle, making sure his foot was useable, and walked down the stairs after her.
The ground at the side of the house had been paved over, but the signs of neglect were evident by the long weeds that grew through the cracks. Nate thought, as he stepped on the escaping grass, of how his lawn was doing. It needed cutting the last time he left his house so it probably was a jungle now.
The last time he left the house.
Was there someone raiding his house right now, he wondered?
“So about you and your boyfriend.” Charlie began suddenly. “If I remember correctly, you lied to me so I would come to the Vaughan’s house. Though you never told me why.” Nate sighed through his nose. Crap, she wanted to know. They stopped in front of the gate leading into the backyard. Charlie tested it to see if it was opened. It wasn’t. She turned to face Nate and crossed her arms.
“What did you two want to tell me?” She asked.
| Vaughan will tell you |
| You have pretty eyes |
| ... |
Nate grinned at Charlie. Charlie flicked him in the forehead. He swore.
“Nate, answer me.” Charlie demanded.
| Vaughan will tell you |
| You have pretty eyes |
| ... |
“Did I ever tell you that you have pretty eyes?” Nate asked. Charlie scowled at him, her violet eyes like daggers.
(?) Charlie will remember that
“Nate-” She warned.
“Because you have pretty eyes.”
“-I will kick your ass.”
“Very pretty.”
“Fine!” Charlie threw her hands into the air. She turned, grabbed hold on the gate, and pulled herself up. She twisted her body and put the balls of her feet on the top. Nate was briefly alarmed by how much she looked like a vulture, balancing up there and glaring down at him.
“I’ll let it go for now.” She told him, her face tense. “But soon either you or Vaughan will tell me what’s going on.” With that, she jumped off to the other side. Nate stood there for a moment, thinking agitatedly about the shitstorm that would come when Charlie found out what they’d been hiding from her. Nate shook his head. There was time to think about that later. He went to the gate and pulled himself over it.
It wasn’t that Nate had never broken into a house before, all three of them had been doing that quite a bit every since the apocalypse started and he had done it twice before then, but it was nerve racking going into a place knowing there was a good chance something would try to eat him. He would get used to it, he knew he would, but that in itself was horrific. Getting used to the apocalypse? Goddamn. ‘Not like you don’t enjoy this a little’ A voice in his head said. Nate fiercely ignored it.
Charlie went up to the door and, weapon ready, tried to open it. It did, reveling a screen door behind it. She tried the screen door but it was locked.
“They locked the front door and not the back?” Nate asked. “That’s pretty stupid. A screen door isn’t going to protect shit.” Charlie cut through the mesh, proving his point.
She put her arm through the hole she cut and unlocked the door. “Doesn’t matter.” Charlie said. “What is important is that there’s most likely no freaks in here.” Most likely. They had gone into homes where the relatives had left their infected family members in rooms. Usually these rooms were marked, but occasionally there had been surprise encounters with the dead. Most of them were adults, some had been children. Both Nate and Vaughan never slept well when they found kids. Charlie went unfazed.
Charlie opened the door and they both went inside.
Nate took two steps into the house and paused. Something about the house seemed off and yet familiar, Nate couldn’t think of what it was. Everything looked normal; the floor was swept, objects were clear of dust, and the place smelt as if it had been aired out; but something was wrong. Charlie noticed this as well; she also had stopped and was looking around the entranceway, confused and frowning. She walked forward and turned into the kitchen. Nate followed her.
“The kitchen smells like pie.” She said. She was flexing the hold on her knife.
| Why? |
| I’m hungry |
| ... |
“Great. Now I’m hungry.” Nate said. Charlie stared at him and then looked thoughtfully to the ground.
“Nate...” She said slowly, looking back up at him. “You can look in the kitchen for any supplies. I’ll look around the house for... things.” She walked away before Nate could reply.
(o) Open cupboard
He opened the cupboard expecting it to be empty, but found a dozen cans.
(o) Take cans
“Holy shit!” Nate laughed, taking off his bag and placing the cans in. “This is awesome! And some of these have only been expired for a week! Some aren’t even expired at all!” He paused. “Wait, did I just fucking say that? Damn, I’ve been living like this too long.” He put the last can in his bag and shook it. The bag had a comforting weight. Nate smiled.
(o) Open at drawer
Nate opened the drawer and looking inside.
(o) Look at can opener
“We already have one of those.” Nate said to himself. That was one of the first things they made sure to take when they first started raiding homes.
(o) Take can opener
“...It wouldn’t hurt to have more.” Nate said and put it in his bag.
(o) Look at cleaver
The cleaver was placed in there rather haphazardly.
“I can use this.” Nate said.
(o) Take cleaver
Nate took the cleaver and placed the handle in his pants.
(o) Look at pie
It was sitting on the counter closest to the fridge, looking like it belonged in a cookbook. The smell was sweet and tangy. Nate whistled.
“Well holy shit.” Nate said. “Apple pie.”
(o) Eat pie
There was a small triangle spatula sitting in a triangle hole in the pie. Nate picked the spatula up, scooped out a sloppy piece of pie, and shoved it in his mouth.
After five weeks of eating canned food, unseasoned meat, and wild plants, this piece of pie was the best anything he had ever eaten. Everything he would ever eat after this was going to taste unbelievably bland but he didn’t care. If he could just die with this pie in his mouth, it would be a good death. Nate made an unintelligible happy sound as he swallowed and began to scoop out more.
Just before he placed the pie in his mouth, his mind made a connection. This connection was so powerful it made him drop the spatula.
“This pie is warm.” Nate said slowly. “It was warm because it was recently cooked. Like how the floors had been recently cleaned and the objects dusted. This house feels wrong because it’s being lived in! Fuck, why didn’t I notice that befo-”
“Hey!” A voice said behind him. Nate began to turn around when a blunt object hit him in the head. Nate fell to the floor and lost consciousness for a few seconds.
<<<<<Q>>>>>
Nate caught the foot and pushed upwards. The owner of the foot put their weight down and Nate had to strain to keep it from stomping his head.
[E]
Nate shoved hard against the foot and pushed upwards, causing the person to lose balance and fall backward. Nate hastily stood up and took the cleaver out of his pants. The assailant; a man, ten years older than Nate, average build; pulled himself off the ground and charged at him with a wooden baseball bat.
(o)
Nate backed up into the living room, raised the cleaver and brought it down on the baseball bat. The bat was cut in half. The man dropped it and swung at Nate. He missed.
(o)
Nate swung the cleaver vertically. It hit the man in the stomach. The man screamed and stumbled back.
(o)
Nate swung the cleaver horizontally. It hit the man in the shoulder and got stuck. The man wailed.
(o)
Nate held onto the handle and kicked the man in the chest. The cleaver came out and the man fell.
The man crawled backwards; one arm madly pulling behind him, the other limply sagging to his side, his feet kicking out and making squeaking noises on the tiled kitchen floor as he tried to escape the intruder. Nate stalked forward, eyes wide and furious. The man’s back hit something and he looked up. Charlie stared down at him curiously. The man cringed away from her and pushed himself against the wall.
“So this is what all the noise was about.” Charlie said to Nate. Nate grunted. She looked back down on the man. “You’re getting blood all over your floor sir.”
“Get out of my house.” The man quivered. “Please.”
| Why? |
| Please? |
| ... |
“Please? You’re going to try and be all nice and shit after you tried to bash my fucking head in?” Nate growled. The man recoiled.
“You should kill him for all the trouble he’s been giving you.” Charlie said. “He deserves it.”
“No! Please! Take whatever you want! Just leave!” The man begged.
(o)
Nate stepped in front of the man. The man put his arms in front of his hands and began to shake. Nate raised his arm and brought the cleaver down. There was a cracking sound and the man screamed. Charlie made a puzzled noise.
“...Did you miss?” She asked Nate. The cleaver was lodged into the wall a few inches above the man’s head. Nate took the cleaver out of the wall.
“No.” Nate said. “I’m not going to kill him.” The man stopped shaking and lowered his arms away from his face.
“...How much are you going to take?” The man asked.
| Some of it |
| None of it |
| ... |
“We’re not taking anything from here.” Nate said. The man and Charlie gave him identical looks of surprise.
“What?” Charlie blurted out. “Why not?”
“Charles-” Nate began.
“Don’t call me ‘Charles’. What is it with you and nicknames lately?”
“-We have no reason to steal from this man. We have an entire neighborhood of unoccupied houses to go through.” He paused and looked at the man. “They are unoccupied, right?”
“I believe so.” The man answered.
“See?” Nate said. “Let’s leave him alone.”
“We’ve stolen from people before.” Charlie commented. “And he has quite a bit of food so-”
“No,” Nate said. “That isn’t the same. The owners of the houses we go through aren’t using what we take. He is.”
“...He tried to kill you.” She said slowly, as if that would change his mind.
“I know. And that was fucking rude.” Nate said crossly. The man flinched. “But he did it for a reason so whatever, let’s go.” Charlie stared at Nate disbelievingly before shaking her head.
“Fine.” She said. “We’ll g-”
“Guatier!” A voice from the living room cried. All three of them turned towards the voice. It was a woman around the same age as the man. She had a hammer in her hand.
“Hanna don’t-” Guatier warned. Hanna screamed and ran towards Nate. He meant to hold her still but the force of her movements and the blood on the floor caused him to fall. Hanna landed on top of him and brought the hammer down.
<<<<<Q>>>>>
Nate grabbed her arms and pushed them away from him. Hanna wasn’t very strong, but it was still hard to get her off of him. Nate slowly began sitting up, easing the hysterical woman off of him and-
A knife protruded out of her chest and nearly hit Nate in the stomach. He flinched as blood gushed on him. Hanna made a pained wheezing sound, dropping the hammer on the floor and touching the knife with shaking hands. Charlie moved the butcher’s knife, the woman with it, and kicked her off the blade. She fell to Nate’s left. Nate looked at woman wide eyed. The woman looked back at him, eyes equally wide, until they looked at nothing at all.
“Hanna!” Guatier bellowed. He stared at Charlie, eyes on burning with hate. “You bitch!” He lunged with all his strength. Charlie stabbed him in the stomach. She pulled in out and he fell to the ground with a thud. Charlie took a kitchen rag from the drawer and wiped off the blood off her knife. Nate looked back and forth between the two bodies body, stunned.
“They’re not going to need their supplies anymore.” Charlie said offhandedly, dropping the bloody rag on the floor and moving towards the pie. She cut herself a slice, inspected it, and took a bite. The kitchen didn’t smell like pie anymore, it smelt like iron.
“Wh- what...” Nate’s voice was raspy. “What the fu-”
“Nate. I did the same thing you did for Vaughan.” Charlie said calmly. She looked at him. “Let’s focus on getting supplies.” She walked out of the kitchen and left him there with the two bodies.
Nate sat on the floor, blood seeping through his pants, and thought about how he felt. Ever since everything had gone to hell, he had meditated on his emotions more that he had ever done in his entire life. He knew why he hadn’t before. He did not like how his brain worked.
It wasn’t as if the apocalypse wasn’t affecting him negatively. Seeing abandoned buildings, fighting and running from monsters did weigh down on his mind; but breaking down doors, bashing monsters’ heads in, running for his life, driving without having any fix purpose; it felt incredible.
And it was fun, and he hated that it felt fun to him. It wasn’t normal. He wasn’t supposed to like any of this, and a part of him didn’t. A part of him was greatly disturbed by everything and wanted to go home. The other part of him though, the part that he found was much too large, loved it and never wanted it to end.
Then there were the deaths of other people.
Nate looked to his left at Hanna, then looked in front of him at Guatier, and barely felt anything. He was a bit sad, they both didn’t have to die and that was a shame, but nothing more. Other than his initial shock, he wasn’t angry with Charlie for killing them, he didn’t feel guilty or responsible for their deaths, and the only nausea he felt came from breathing in the smell of their blood for so long. That was all. Just like when he had killed Anya.
Nate stood up and stared down at the bodies on the ground.
“I’m a fucking psychopath.” He told the bodies. In his whole life he had be scared of many things, but Nate had never be as scared of himself as he was now.
| We should go |
| How much stuff do you have? |
| ... |
“Charlie wha-” He began. Charlie shushed him.
“Do you hear that?” She whispered. Nate walked closer to her and listened. After a moment he heard it.
“Is that screaming?” He asked.
“I think so.” Charlie said. “What do you think it is?”
| A animal |
| A zombie |
| ... |
“It might be a dog.” Nate answered. “Maybe a parrot.” Charlie gave him an incredulous look.
(?) Charlie will remember that
“A dog?” She repeated, eyebrows furrowed. “You think it might be a dog?”
“Or a parrot.” Nate said again. Charlie closed her eyes, shook her head, and looked back up the stairs.
“Whatever it is, it needs to be dealt with.” Charlie said. “You go look and I’ll be here if you need any help.”
| Why me? |
| You come too |
| ... |
“Okay, sure.” Nate said. Charlie walked away from the stairs. He grabbed onto the railing and crept up, making as little noise as possible to take whatever it was by surprise if it happened not to be an animal. These stairs, unlike the ones outside, where well maintained and didn’t creak while he walked. He got to the top and turned towards the direction of the sound. It was coming from a room to his right. As he walked towards it, he was positive that it was not a zombie, unless zombies were learning how to scream. He stood in front of the door.
(o) Listen at door
Nate pressed his ear against the door. Whatever was in there was wailing as loud as it could, gasping, hiccupping, and wailing again.
“That sounds more like a person than an animal.” Nate murmured to himself. “Even if it’s not, whatever is in there sounds like it’s in pain.”
(o) Open door
Nate took the gun out, released the safety, and held the knob. He held his breath and quickly opened the door.
The room was painted with pastel shades of pink and blue stripes. The walls had pictures of balloon animals and circus people. The room was small and only had a garbage bin, a bookshelf, a drawer, a rocking chair, and a crib where the crying was coming from. Nate’s jaw dropped.
“This is a baby room...” Nate whispered to himself, lowering the gun. His feet moved closer to the crib with out his permission. He placed his gun on top of the drawer beside the crib, placed his hands on the railing, and looked over.
The baby was five, maybe six months old. It had the same red hair as the father but looked like the mother. Its green eyes stared into Nate’s and it stopped crying for a moment. It’s expression became quizzical, it never seen this stranger before, but then it remembered it was sad and began crying again. It raised its arms to Nate, begging to be picked up. Nate froze.
“So this is where the animal is?” Charlie said behind him. Nate looked over his shoulder at her. She walked towards the crib and stared down at the baby emotionlessly. The baby stopped crying, stared at the new stranger, and started again. Charlie raised the knife over her head.
(o)
Nate caught her arm before she brought the knife down.
“What the fuck are you doing!?” Nate growled, roughly turning her around to face him. The baby cried harder at his tone.
“We’re not going to take care of this baby.” Charlie explained calmly. “And if we leave it here it’ll starve. I’m being nice. If I kill the baby now it won’t starve to death later.”
“Killing the baby is not an option.” Nate’s voice was dangerously low. His grip on her arm tightened and Charlie winced.
“Fine.” Charlie said irritated. “Let the puppy starve.” Nate let go of her arm and she backed away from him, holding the arm close to her chest. “At least shut it up. I don’t want it attracting a horde to us.” She stormed out of the room and slammed the door.
He turned towards the baby. It looked at him and raised its arms.
(o) Pick up baby
Nate lowered his hands into the crib, stopped a few inches from touching the baby, raised his hands, frowned, and lowered his hands again. He put his hands under its armpits and lifted. He held the baby; his arms straight and locked in position. The baby stretched its own arms towards him, wanting to be closer. He realized that his shirt was cover it’s mother’s blood and for the first time felt a pang of guilt. Nate unlocked his arms and pulled the baby into an embrace.
| Shut up, Shut up |
| It’s okay, it’s okay |
| ... |
He rocked the baby up and down without saying anything, pacing around the room as the baby cried.
(o) Look at baby bottle
It was on top of the drawer next to where he had placed his gun. It was half full.
“Why would they leave a bottle of milk laying around? Unless...” He closed his eyes. “Unless they were feeding you when we came.” He finished. He opened his eyes and stared at the bottle.
(o) Pick up bottle
Nate took the bottle and sat down on the rocking chair. He positioned the baby in the crook of his left arm and gave it the bottle. It cried around the opening for a moment before settling down and drinking. Milk trailed down the side of its mouth as it drank.
| Boy or girl? |
| You’re gross |
| ... |
“Are you a boy or a girl?” Nate asked the baby. “I can’t tell by looking at you. All babies look the same to me.” The baby stared up at him but didn’t answer. The bottle was one third finished. “I’m going to assume you’re a girl.” He said.
| You’re drinking fast |
| Rude |
| ... |
“You’re a rude little shit.” Nate joked. “You know you’re supposed to say ‘thank you’ when people feed you, right?” The baby closed her eyes. “Fucking rude.” She drank the rest of her bottle. Nate slowly removed it from the baby’s mouth and waited for a reaction. Her eyes fluttered, but she went to sleep.
(o) Put baby in crib
He stood up, careful not to disturb the baby, and walked towards the crib. He looked down at the small bed. He didn’t want to let her go, but what were the alternatives? Charlie was right; they couldn’t take care of a baby now. Hell, they couldn’t take care of a baby before the apocalypse began. He sighed, shoulders dropping as he lowered the baby down. She yawned as her body met the bed. Nate went to the side, took his gun, and walked towards the door.
He opened the door. His feet won’t move. He frowned down at them. Charlie had said that the baby would die of starvation if they left her alone, but they couldn’t take care of a baby. They’d be horrible parents. But if he did nothing the baby would die. But...
“Fuck it.” Nate said.
“Nate.” Charlie said, trying not to yell. “Why are you bringing the puppy?”
| It’s not forever |
| Help me |
| ... |
“Charlie, I told you killing the baby is not an option.” Nate said sternly, which sounded odd to him because he was rarely ever stern. “If we leave her here she’ll die, and if you kill her she’ll die, so there’s really no other choice except to bring her along.” Charlie scowled and walked closer to Nate until their faces were inches away.
“You have to understand something.” Her voice was low and dark. She spoke slowly, stressing every word. “If you bring this baby, she will put our lives in danger. We need to be as safe as we possibly can. So you need to put her back where she came from, close the door, and come downstairs without any baggage.” Charlie looked down at the baby disdainfully. The baby slept unaware with her head on his shoulder.
| I would |
| I will fight you |
| ... |
“Charlie I will physically fight you for this, I swear to God.” His tone matched Charlie’s; only it was darker and more forceful. He hovered over her and glared down ferociously. “You are not going to let this baby die. If you try, I will shoot you and feed you to the goddamn zombies. Don’t you fucking try.”
(?) Charlie will remember that
The muscles in Charlie’s face twitched dangerously. She raised her arm and backhanded him across the face. His head was forced to the side and he almost lost balance. The baby moaned but didn’t wake up. He hissed in pain. Charlie turned, picked up her bag of supplies and walked out of the house.
“Fucking ow.” Nate groaned, shaking his head back and forth. The next car ride was going to be awkward and stressful, he knew that already, but he would deal with that later. He made his way to the front door, his arms already tired from all the weight he was holding. Just as he was about to reach the door a zombie grabbed hold of his bag.
“Wha-” He began to say. It was Hanna. She, it now, moaned and made a move to grab the baby. Nate stepped back, lost balance, and fell into a chair behind him. The baby made a startled noise but didn’t wake up. Nate tried to grab for his gun.
The sound of bones breaking made him pause. He looked up in time to see the monster fall to the ground. Guatier stood, broken bloody bat in hand. He swayed where he stood and looked at Nate. The bat fell from his hand.
“M-my baby...” Guatier grieved. He took a shaky step towards Nate, an arm stretched towards his child.
| I’ll take care of her |
| Stay away |
| ... |
“I’m sorry.” Nate said. He was alarmed by how little of the apology was meant for the man and woman. He had felt guilt in the nursery, but looking at the dying man he understood that it was for the baby’s sake and not for the pain he caused the parents. What was wrong with him?
“M-my baby...” Guatier said again. “Don’t... don’t hurt...” The man collapsed. Nate heard him gasp for air, a sound that sounded wet and painful, and then he heard him breathe no more.
Vaughan was some distance away. It was his turn to stay with the truck. They always took turns staying with the vehicle while the other two went scavenging; protecting their possessions was the job of the person staying behind.
It looked as though Vaughan was talking to someone, though he couldn’t see who it was.
(o) Put supplies in truck
Nate walked to the back of the truck and placed the baby bag and backpack down. Charlie glared at him but said nothing.
(o) Talk to Charlie
Nate sighed. “Charlie-”
“You’re an asshole.” Charlie retorted.
| You’re not a bitch? |
| Sorry |
| ... |
“I’m sorry for making you angry.” Nate said. “I know you’re just trying to keep everyone safe. But this little girl is only five, maybe six months old. I’m willing to do quite a bit to survive, but I’m not doing that.” Charlie looked up at the overcast sky and said nothing. Nate was about to turn to leave when she started talking.
“Let me give you some advice Nate.” Charlie said. Nate arched an eyebrow. “Some people say that you can’t have morals in situations such as this.” She gestured all around her. “That’s not really true. You can keep some of your morals, such as sticking by your friends or not being racist. But other things you have to forget, or you will die.” She eyed the baby scornfully and looked back at Nate.
| Interesting |
| Thanks for the advice |
| ... |
“Thanks for the advice.” Nate said slowly. The baby turned her face and rested the other cheek on his shoulder. Charlie nodded.
(o) Look at Vaughan
Nate walked away from the truck and tried to get a look at who Vaughan was talking to. He walked until he could see Vaughan’s profile and froze.
"Aw shit." Nate whispered under his breath.
It was nobody. Vaughan was having a conversation with the Goddamn air.
Nate pulled the collar of his shirt, frowning down at the ground. Was Vaughan losing his mind? He was mentally the weakest link out of the three of them; he was always reluctant to shoot zombies even when he was a safe distance away, he would have nightmares that would last the entire night, and he had to force himself to eat even when he had gone days without food; but to Nate’s knowledge he had never hallucinated before.
Vaughan turned towards the truck as Nate looked back up. Nate couldn’t see his facial expressions, but he could tell that the younger man was shaking. Vaughan turned back and flinched so hard his feet left the ground. He looked around, his body twisting in awkward angles and his head whipping back and forth. Eventually he stopped, shook his head, took off his glasses, and covered his eyes with his hands.
"They’re ‘gone’ now." Nate said to himself, watching Vaughan breathing heavily from afar. Whatever had been going on in his mind, looking at the truck inadvertently snapped him out of it. He made his way towards the younger man.
(o) Talk to Vaughan
“Hey.” Nate said as he got close to Vaughan. The baby yawned. Vaughan didn’t notice the little girl.
“Nate...” Vaughan’s voice shook. He spread his trembling fingers, startled eyes peaking through. “I saw... I mean... I- she- w-what?”
| What did you see |
| Go to the truck |
| ... |
Nate used his free hand to squeeze Vaughan’s shoulder, making him flinch.
“Breathe. You need to calm down and breathe.” Nate ordered. Vaughan moved his hands away from his face and began hyperventilating.
“Okay, breathe slower than that. Slower. Slower.” Nate said. Vaughan closed his eyes, concentrating his respiration until he managed to calm down. He opened his eyes and stared directly at Nate.
“I saw Anya.” Vaughan told him.
| Not possible |
| Are you serious? |
| ... |
Nate let go of his shoulder and groaned. “Are you serious?” He said, irritated. “You hallucinated because of your stupid guilt crap?” Vaughan stuttered incomprehensibly before stopping himself and glaring at Nate.
“I didn’t mean to hallucinate!” Vaughan said. “And ‘stupid guilt crap’? You killed someone because of me, you asshole, of course I feel guilty about it. So should you!”
Nate rolled his eyes. “Give me a fucking break.” He said.
“I know you think that we’re okay, but I can’t handle being angry 24 hours of the day!” Vaughan said. “I’m still mad at you and Charlie for what the both of you did.”
“Saving your life?” Nate asked incredulously.
“Murdering people!” Vaughan nearly screamed.
| Listen to me |
| You piece of shit |
| ... |
“Listen to me. I understand why you’re pissed off, I really do,” Nate said, trying not to yell himself and accidently wake the baby. “But you have to fucking let it go! Ever since that car crashed into the house, we’ve all been in an apocalyptic situation. And that means we have to do whatever it takes to keep each other safe!” The weight of the baby he was holding punctuated the hypocrisy of his words, but he ignored it.
(?) Vaughan will remember that
“Keep each other safe?” Vaughan repeated resentfully. “I thought I was supposed to kill my own innocent people next ti-”
“Hey!” Charlie whispered harshly. The two men jumped and turned towards her. Vaughan nearly fell down. She was tapping the butcher’s knife on her thigh, looking like a frustrated teacher.
“You’re both being too loud! Shut the fuck up!” She whispered again, waving the knife at both of them and causing the men to back away from her. Nate looked around, expecting zombies to stumble around the corner, but none came. Vaughan frowned and looked away from her.
| More scavenging? |
| Vaughan, go |
| ... |
“Are you going to go scavenging for more supplies?” Nate asked in a quieter voice.
“We should.” Charlie answered. “The more we get the better. So you,” She pointed to Nate, “Need to stop talking to your boyfriend and get to work. And you," She pointed to Vaughan, “Need to stop being such a bitch and go to the truck.”
“Yes Mom.” Vaughan sighed and put a hand over his eyes. Nate smirked. Charlie glowered at Vaughan, tightening her hold on the weapon as she prepared to verbally rip into him, when she realized that Vaughan hadn’t noticed what he said. There had been no sarcasm in his voice or attitude in his gestures. She reluctantly let the comment go. She took a moment to fix the glasses on his face before stalking off.
| You suck |
| ‘Yes Mom’? |
| ... |
“Yes Mom?” Nate repeated, laughing a little. “Surprised Charlie didn’t kick your ass for that. What was that all about?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Vaughan said, unsmiling. He placed his glasses on his face and sighed again. He rotated and flexed his left hand.
“Whatever man.” Nate grumbled, momentary good mood gone. That was it; he didn’t have to stay here with Sir stick-up-ass any longer. He had work to do. “Go to the truck.” He turned to walk away.
“...Wait.” Vaughan said.
| Don’t bitch at me |
| What? |
| ... |
Nate huffed, rolled his eyes, and turned back to Vaughan. “What?” He droned, moving the baby to the other arm. Vaughan quickly looked around to make sure Charlie wasn’t close by. He ran a hand through his hair before speaking.
“Ever since all of... this happened,” Vaughan gestured all around him. “I haven’t been able to go to the doctor. I need to see a doctor because...” Vaughan paused. “I think I’m getting worse. And I think hallucinations are a new symptom I’ve gotten, not just because of guilt.” He said this last bit with a bit of resentment, looking straight into Nate’s eyes. Nate looked away.
Vaughan sighed and closed his eyes. “I need to find a doctor...” He said.
| Supplies first |
| How? |
| ... |
“We will find you a doctor.” Nate said. Vaughan opened his eyes and looked at him. Nate grabbed the younger man’s arm and pulled him forward. Vaughan stumbled a bit but allowed himself to be pulled. When they were beside each other Nate turned around, draped an arm over his friend’s shoulders, and walked towards the truck.
“You’re being an irritating dick,” Nate continued. “But I saved your ass before. Why would I let you die of cancer now?” Vaughan’s shoulders, which had been tense, slowly relaxed. Vaughan looked up at Nate, mouth twitching and glassy eyed. Nate looked back down at him and Vaughan tried to say something but no words came, so he averted his eyes instead. He still didn’t notice the baby.
They walked this way until they came to the passenger’s side of the truck. Nate let him go; Vaughan put his arms on the roof and lifted himself to the top. He placed the bag of arrows on his back and the bow in his lap. For someone who was supposed to act as a watchdog, Vaughan looked no more threatening than he had when he was on the ground; to Nate he somehow looked smaller up there.
“...I have an idea” Vaughan said. The baby yawned but Vaughan took no notice of her. “From what I saw on the map, we’re not that far away from downtown. I’m sure there’s a hospital or a pharmacy there. If we can get some temozolomide pills then it will buy us more time to find a doctor.”
“Temozo-what now?” Nate asked.
“It’s a chemotherapy drug.” Vaughan explained. “When Charlie made us write down the survival info before all the wifi shut down, I made sure to research about different kinds of cancer treatments. Temozolomide is one of the ones I remember the most because it’s the first time I ever heard of chemotherapy that doesn’t involve radiation or liquid injected into you. It’s the perfect option for me because I don’t have to rely on a machine and I can give it to myself without much effort.” He rotated his left shoulder.
| About Charlie... |
| If we can’t find it? |
| Exit |
“Going downtown will be fucking dangerous.” Nate warned him. “There will be zombies fucking everywhere.”
“I know.” Vaughan said, nodding slowly. “Even if half the population of infected left the city, that still leaves... how many? Thousands? Millions? It’s risky, I know, but it might be worth it in the long run.”
| If we can’t find it? |
| Exit |
“How are we going to convince Charlie that it’s worth the risk?” Nate asked. “To her knowledge, we’re both healthy.” Vaughan bit his lower lip and looked in the direction that Charlie had walked off to. Nate looked as well and saw nothing but average, assumedly people free homes.
“We’re going to say...” Vaughan paused. “We’re going to say that we might need it later. We need to be prepared for the future right? I’m sure Charlie will understand that.”
| Want me to tell her? |
| Sounds good |
| ... |
“Want me to tell her?” Nate asked. Vaughan tried not to smile and failed.
“As long as you don’t tell her anything horrible like last time,” Vaughan said, trying to sound stern. “Then yes, that would be great. Thanks.”
“So I’ll tell her that we need a lifetime supply of Viagra.”
“W-what!? No!”
“Lots and lots of Viagra.”
Vaughan stuttered profusely and covered his reddening face with his hands.
| Exit |
“What are we going to do if we can’t find it?” Nate asked. Vaughan looked down at his lap, his shoulders slumping.
“We’ll have to find a doctor faster then.” He said quietly.
“I should get back to work.” Nate told him.
“Alright,” Vaughan said. “But I want to know how you feel about going?” He looked at Nate apprehensively, his fingers playing with the string on his bow.
| I don’t like it |
| You’re going anyways |
| ... |
“You’re going to go no matter what I say.” Nate told him.
(?) You didn’t answer Vaughan
“I don’t have a choice.” Vaughan said apologetically. “I’m getting worse and I don’t know how much time I have.”
“Then I’m going with you.” Nate said. He moved the baby to his other shoulder. “I’m not going to leave your dumb ass behind. Besides, it’s not like we have anywhere else to go anyways.” Vaughan’s eyes took on a glassy sheen again.
“Thank you.” Vaughan sighed.
“Whatever.” Nate said. “Can you hold-”
“Nate! Start the truck!” Charlie screamed from across the street. Both men quickly turned in her direction. She came running out of a house with a box full of supplies and a dozen monsters coming after her. Vaughan tried to stand but Nate grabbed hold of his arm.
(o)
Nate took out his keys and unlocked the door.
(o)
With his hand holding the keys and his other arm holding the baby, he had to use the tips of his fingers to open the door. Charlie dropped the box into the back and slammed the tonneau cover shut. Nate sat inside the truck.
(o)
Nate tried to put the keys in the ignition, misses, and dropped the keys.
“Shit!” He said. Charlie jumped into the truck and slammed the door.
(o)
Nate picked up the keys. The zombies were moving past the backlights of the truck.
(o)
Nate put the keys in the ignition and turned. The engine roared. He stepped on the gas petal and sped off, leaving the creatures behind. The driver’s door flapped as he drove. The baby woke up and began to cry.
“Vaughan, hold her for a second.” He said, moving the arm holding the baby upward. Vaughan gawked at the little girl, taking her away from Nate without think about what he was doing. Nate used his now free hand to close the door shut.
| Not important |
| I gave birth to her |
| ... |
Nate took is hands off the wheel and placed the baby back onto his lap. The baby made a gurgling noise as it was moved. He placed a hand on her stomach and turned himself into a car seat.
“I gave birth to her.” Nate said casually. The baby cooed as if vouching for him.
“I’m serious.” Vaughan said, his forehead wrinkling with concern.
“So am I.” Nate insisted. “Why wouldn’t I be? It hurt like hell to push her out. Look how big she is!” He shook the baby’s tummy and the little girl let out a happy screech. Charlie flinched.
“What the fuck was that?” Charlie demanded, glaring at the baby.
“Babies have a habit of screaming when they’re happy.” Vaughan explained, smiling at the baby but still managing to look concerned. “It’s their way of laughing. I think it’s because they don’t have much control over their vocal cords yet.”
“Whatever.” Charlie said dismissively. She looked at Nate and frowned. “Where are we going?”
“We’re going to the hospital downtown.” Nate told her. Charlie raised her hands and looked at Nate like he had lost his mind.
“Why?” Charlie groaned.
| For trading |
| Viagra |
| ... |
“Because we need a lifetime supply of Viagra.” Nate snickered. Vaughan stuttered incoherently, his face turning red, before muffling an embarrassed scream into the palms of his hands. Charlie closed her eyes and dragged her hands down her face. The baby sucked on her tiny fist.
“Two things.” Charlie said, opening her eyes. “One, you are not fifty. You don’t need that. And two, I highly doubt your hand is going to care that you can’t keep it up.” Nate laughed so hard he couldn’t drive. He took his foot off the gas pedal and forced himself not to double over and accidentally crush the baby. The baby looked up at him with wide and confused eyes.
“Can we not talk about this?” Vaughan begged. “The reason we need to go to the hospital is because we need to stockpile on as much medicine as we can.”
“We can just go through the houses and take what we need from there.” Charlie told him.
“No.” Vaughan spoke through his teeth. Nate slowly stopped laughing. “We need to go to the hospital. They’ll be a bigger variety of medicine we can take. We can’t just rely on houses for the things we need. That’s stupid.”
"Stupid." She repeated. "I'm not stupid." Nate drove again.
"I never said you were."
"Nothing I do it stupid."
"Thinking that houses will give us everything is."
"What the hell is wrong with you, fuckface!?"
"...Nothing." Vaughan leaned forward, taking off his glasses and placing his right hand on his forehead as he rotated and flexed his left. It looked as though Vaughan was trying to keep his brain from leaking hot liquid out of his head. His face contorted briefly; his eyes squinted shut, his mouth disappeared into a tight line, and he hissed out air; before his features relaxed all at once. He leaned back into the chair and sighed.
An uncomfortable silence settled in the truck. The baby didn’t notice. She had made it her mission to try and touch the steering wheel. The landscape outside was transforming from mainly residential areas to small businesses. They would be downtown soon, but the distance was too far for Nate to be sitting in awkward silence.
| Honeymoon's over? |
| [Tell a story] |
| ... |
"I guess the honeymoon stage is over huh?" Nate asked, scratching his neck. Charlie scowled at him.
"You just couldn't let it be quiet in here, could you?" Charlie huffed. "You just had to say something, you and you big ass mouth. Do you ever go long periods of time without taking? I bet you don't." Vaughan frowned and closed his eyes.
| I'm making things comfortable |
| Fuck you then |
| ... |
"I don't talk in my sleep." Nate told her. He turned on to the highway.
"I don't believe you." Charlie deadpanned.
"You don't?"
"No."
"Then sleep with me and find out." Nate offered. Charlie rolled her eyes but grinned a bit. Vaughan, however, did not find this amusing.
"I'm right here." Vaughan said without opening his eyes. "Please stop." Charlie crossed her arms.
"And why should he?" She challenged. "You haven't been a good boyfriend. I'm sure that Nate would do a much better job than you, seeing as you've been a little bitch for the last month." Vaughan's mouth twitched, his shoulders dropped and his head lowered, but he did not open his eyes nor replied.
“I’m confused.” Nate said. “Not even twenty minutes ago you backhanded me in the face, and now you think I’d be a good boyfriend?”
“I never said you would be a good boyfriend, I said you’d be better than this twink.” She corrected. “Nate, compliment me." Her eyes dared Vaughan to say something. He didn't. Nate let his eyes leave the road for a moment to look between both of his friends. Charlie had placed her hands on Vaughan's right leg, tapping her fingers against it as she patiently waited for praise. Vaughan sat still, his mouth twitching again.
| You're hot |
| You look like a boy |
| ... |
Nate looked back at the road.
"You look like a boy." He said casually. Charlie stared blankly at him, letting the words bounce around in her head before she began screeching. Vaughan's eyes opened wide.
(?) Charlie and Vaughan will remember that
"I said compliments Nate!" She shouted.
"A very pretty boy." Nate added. Vaughan's body began to tremble. He pressed his lips together and covered his mouth, but he couldn't hold it in. He threw his head back and began to laugh uncontrollably. Nate smiled and drove around a zombie standing in the middle of the road.
"This isn't funny! I do not look like a boy!" Charlie protested.
"There- there was this one time where... " Vaughan tried to speak through his laughter. "Where this gay guy was hitting on her because he thought she was a 'pretty boy' too and- and then... the boyfriend came and... do you remem-" Vaughan found it physically impossible to finish sentence and kept on laughing. Nate, thinking back to the moment Vaughan was referring to, laughed too.
"You two are fucking assholes!” Charlie said. “That man sic-ed his dog on me and I almost died!"
Nate and Vaughan laughed harder, the older man had to stop driving again. The baby happy-screeched.
“There isn’t going to be any medication left in the hospital.” Charlie continued to complain. Nate felt her glaring at the back of his head. “It would have been one of the first places people raided when they realized things weren’t going to be fixed. We’re going to go into the hospital, see nothing, and then the zombies will come and fucking eat us.” Vaughan shook his head.
“I disagr- Whoa!” He tripped. Nate stopped walking and turned to look. Vaughan’s arms spun has he tried to keep himself from falling. He hopped once before finding his footing and balancing out. Charlie raised an eyebrow at him.
“Remember,” Vaughan went on like nothing happened. “When the sick started turning into monsters, the government told everyone to keep their sick at home and stay away from the hospitals? Even though people didn’t know where the disease came from, they treated hospitals like ground zero for the virus. No one would have wanted to go there for supplies.” Vaughan rotated his left shoulder, stopped, and rotated his wrist.
“...You have a point.” Charlie admitted after a moment. “But it’s still dangerous.”
| We’ll be careful |
| Where’s your balls? |
| ... |
“Charles, where did your balls go?” Nate joked, walking forward again. He tilted a head in her direction. “You were so brave half an hour ago.”
(?) Charlie and Vaughan will remember that
“It has nothing to do with bravery Nate. It’s common sense.” Charlie said. “And stop calling me Charles!” Nate turned around and walked backwards. He moved the baby away from his chest, lifted her in front of his head, and made her face Charlie.
“What you need,” He said. “Is some baby motivation.” He cleared his throat and began to speak in a high voice. “You can do it Charlie! You just have to believe in yourself! Yay!” He shook the baby. Vaughan snickered and Charlie rolled her eyes. “Yay!” He shook the baby again.
“Nate, I think you should stop.” Vaughan chuckled. “The baby looks like she’s going to puke.” Nate turned the baby back around. She pouted at him and looked a bit green.
| Don’t puke |
| Sorry |
| ... |
“Don’t puke on me, you gross ass baby.” Nate told her before settling the baby back onto his chest.
“You know, for someone who thinks that babies are gross you handle one pretty well... ish.” Vaughan said.
“Oh please.” Nate snorted. “I’m horrible with kids. I’m surprised this one isn’t dead yet.”
“We’re here.” Charlie said. Nate stopped walking and looked to his right. The other buildings on the street had an illusionistic normality to them. If the few broken windows, blood, and dead bodies could be ignored then the buildings only looked momentarily neglected, as if someone had meant to maintain the buildings while the entire population went on a massive fieldtrip and had forgotten their duties.
The hospital, on the other hand, made no attempt to appear as if things were normal. Unlike the other buildings that had very little damaged windows, almost all the windows in the hospital were broken, bloodstained, or both. There were bullet holes on its structure, especially around the windows, which gave Nate the mental image of people shooting zombies that were trying to crawl out of them. The fact that many hole filled bodies, not all zombies, where littered on the ground made him believe that was what had happened.
The worst aspect of this place was the front door. It was boarded up multiple times from up to bottom. There were words written in spray paint. All capitals.
“Please don’t.” Vaughan read aloud. Please don’t. To Nate, those words where worse than any ‘Beware’, ‘Don’t open’, or ‘Dead inside’ sign that could ever be. Those other signs always felt like there was a challenge inside of the warning, secretly daring people to disobey. Not this one though. This one felt like there was real concern for whoever came across the hospital. Like it couldn’t warn people of the danger because the danger was too great for words, so it could only beg people not to go inside.
“I’m going to ask the both of you one last time.” Charlie said, turning away from the hospital and looking at them. “Is the risk of going into this hospital really worth whatever we might find?” Vaughan and Nate looked at each other. A wordless conversation passed through the two of them.
Nate arched an eyebrow. ‘Do you still want to do this?’
Vaughan raised his hand to the side of his head and tapped it with a finger. ‘I still have brain cancer.’ Nate nodded.
Vaughan spoke up. “I think it’s worth it.” Charlie inspected the two of them, frowned, and looked back at the door.
“Alright then.” She said. “We’re going to have to find another way in though. It’ll be too noisy to break off the boards on the door.” Vaughan walked towards the bodies and Charlie walked back and forth on the street, inspecting the hospital.
“Well, this seems like it’ll take some time.” Nate told the baby. “You want to help?” The baby cooed at him and touched his face.
“Great.” Nate said smiling.
“Aren’t you going to help?” Nate asked, stopping Charlie midstride. She frowned at Nate before looking back at the hospital.
“I am helping.” Charlie explained shortly. “I’m looking at the hospital from farther back to see if I notice anything the two of you don’t from looking up close. Are you helping by distracting me?”
“Bwah!” The baby interjected.
“Yeah, bwah!” Nate agreed. Charlie rolled her eyes and resumed walking.
(o) Show baby
Nate turned the baby towards Charlie. Charlie stopped walking.
“...Why are you pointing the puppy at me?” Charlie asked.
“She’s inspecting you.” Nate told her. “Seeing if you know a way inside the building.” Charlie stared at Nate and then walked away.
“She has no respect for your expertise.” Nate informed the little girl. This did not bother the baby. Nate walked towards the hospital.
(o) Look at door
Please don’t. Those words still bothered him. He knew something bad would happen if he went in, but what choice did he have? Vaughan needed the medication. Please don’t.
“Damn...” Nate said to himself.
(o) Show baby
“You see that drool-o-rama?” Nate asked as he pointed the baby to the door. “That’s someone trying to warn us not to go in. We’re not listening because we’re dumb.” The baby grabbed at the boards. She pulled, but nothing happened.
“Nice try.” Nate said as he moved the baby away from the door. “We can’t break the boards down anyways. It’ll make too much noise.”
(o) Talk to Vaughan
Vaughan stood hunched over on the dying grass, looking at the bodies on the ground and loosely hugging himself.
“Figure out anything?” Nate asked Vaughan as he walked closer to him. Vaughan kept staring at the bodies on the ground.
“I keep hoping that they killed all the zombies whenever this happened.” Vaughan gestured his head towards the pile of bodies. “But... I don’t want this to happen to us. I don’t want my cancer to be the reason we all die.” Nate looked away from Vaughan.
“...Let’s focus on finding a way inside.” Nate said. Vaughan looked up at him, nodded, and looked back at the bodies.
(o) Show baby
Nate turned the baby towards Vaughan. After pausing for a moment, he raised the baby in front of his head and cleared his throat.
“You might be sick but you look good to me!” Nate said with a high voice, moving the baby as if she were the one talking. Vaughan looked at baby and tilted his head, confused. “Don’t worry about your cancer! We’re going to find you a doctor and you’re going to be okay! Yay!” Nate shook the baby. Vaughan stared at her before a smile slowly grew on his face.
“...Thank you.” Vaughan said. He straightened his back.
“Let’s go look for a way inside!” The ‘baby’ cheered.
“Okay.” Vaughan said with a nod.
(o) Look at window
Nate walked up to the window. There was a large hole in the center, the rest of the glass pointing to it like large knives. It was directly above all the bodies.
“If we can break the glass away we could just pull ourselves through.” Nate said to himself. “But how are we going to break it without making noise?”
(o) Show baby
“You see all this glass?” He asked the baby. “We have to find a way to- Shit!” The baby grabbed hold of one of the pieces of glass. She didn’t hurt herself yet. He carefully let go of one arm supporting the baby’s weight and used it to slowly remove the baby’s hand from the glass. As he was moving her hand, and internally swearing about the little brat’s stupidity, he felt the glass move.
“You could have cut your hand, you dumbass!” Nate chastised when he finally removed her hand from the window. “...You did give me an idea though. I can just pull the glass out of the window.”
“Ah!” The baby said.
“No, not ‘ah’, you’re still a dumbass.” Nate replied.
(o) Pull out glass
“Hey Vaughan.” Nate called. Vaughan walked up beside him.
“Ye-” Vaughan began to ask until he suddenly had an armful of baby. He lost balance for a moment before straightening out. The baby cooed at him and tried to grab his glasses.
“Thanks.” Nate said. He took of his jacket and began pulling out the pieces of glass, holding the jacket in his hands to protect them from the sharp edges. Charlie noticed what he was doing and walked towards him. It took Nate a minute to get all the pieces out.
“There we go.” Nate said when he was done. He opened his jacket and saw multiple holes varying size ripped into it. He thought about shaking his jacket out and putting it back on, but changed his mind and draped it over the window. He placed his arm on the ledge and turned towards Vaughan and Charlie.
“You ready?” He asked the both of them.
“No, but let’s go.” Charlie and Vaughan said in unison. Charlie’s tone was irritable and edgy. Vaughan voice was low and filled with apprehension. Nate sighed and pulled himself through the window. He took a flashlight out of his backpack and turned it on. Vaughan handed him the baby and went through, falling on the floor when he lost balance. Charlie went through as Vaughan was standing back up.
“We are going to go in.” Charlie whispered abruptly as she took her flashlight out and turned it on. “We are going to take whatever we can find as quickly as we can and then we are fucking out. Understand?” Nate and Vaughan nodded.
“We have to find the pharmacy first.” Vaughan said as he took out his flashlight. He turned it on and the light from his flashlight circled around the hallway as he rotated his left wrist.
“There’s a map on wall at the end of the hallway.” Nate told them, pointing his flashlight to it. They walked forward. Another hallway started at the end of the hallway they were in. When they reached the end, Nate held his hand out. Vaughan and Charlie stopped. Nate looked both ways, making sure both ends were clear, and walked in front of the map. The other two followed.
(o) Look at map
“We have to go right from where we are and walk down to the end of the hallway.” Nate said, tracing the path with his fingers. ”Then turn left and walk until we see the pharmacy.”
“That isn’t very far.” Vaughan observed.
“Yeah, if there wasn’t the possibility of a monster popping out at you.” Charlie said. They all paused at that comment before Nate turned right and continued walking. Vaughan and Charlie followed him.
The baby was being mercifully quiet as they made their journey down the corridors of the hospital. Even so, their footfalls sounded like clashing cymbals to their ears no matter how gently they walked, their breathing like trumpets no matter how lightly they respired, and their heartbeats banged like war drums no matter how hard they tried calm down. Nate thought the monsters would hear them, even though he knew they were being too quiet for that to happen. The creatures would hear them, the noise they were making would be unacceptable to their dead ears, and they would sprint to the three of them and they would be eaten alive for daring to come here.
Nothing like that happened. They found the pharmacy and went inside without any trouble. Though they still weren’t safe, Vaughan took a huge sigh of relief and leaned against the wall. Nate looked around.
“Aw shit.” He said. Vaughan almost asked him what was wrong until he noticed the state of the pharmacy for the first time. There were a few medicine bottles and boxes laying around, but other than those stray items the room was stripped bare. Even the storage room in the back of the pharmacy was open, and as far as Nate could see that was empty too.
Vaughan stuttered incomprehensibly, completely surprised by this turn of events. Charlie looked mildly annoyed.
“There are some bottles still lying around.” Nate told the other two. “We take what we can and we’ll leave. Vaughan, you see that room in the back? Go in and see if you can find anything. Charlie, you pick up whatever is on the ground here.” Charlie nodded and got to work. Vaughan forced himself to move towards the room in the back. Nate started walking after him when Charlie spoke up.
“One of you is sick.” Charlie told him. Nate looked at her, wide eyed.
| No we aren’t |
| How’d you find out? |
| ... |
“We weren’t bitten Ch-” Nate began.
“That’s not what I mean.” Charlie interrupted him. “When you called me on the phone, you lied to me because you wanted me to come right away. You wanted to tell me that one of you was sick. I don’t know why you had to take the roundabout way but that’s not important. Which one of you is sick? Is it Vaughan? Is it you? The both of you?” Charlie frowned. “We’re you and Vaughan lying about lying before? Did you get my boyfriend sick?”
“Are you... are you asking me if I gave Vaughan an STD?” Nate asked, astonished that she was suggesting that.
“Did you?” Charlie asked.
“Fucking no Charlie!” Nate said a bit too loud. They both paused and looked around. No zombies came.
“Then what is it?” Charlie demanded. “Which one of you is sick and what do you have?”
| I’m sick |
| No one is sick |
| ... |
Before Nate could speak Charlie raised her hand.
“I changed my mind. Don’t tell me now.” Charlie told him. “We don’t have luxury to talk much, in fact I shouldn’t have distracted you. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible.” Charlie frowned at him. “But the moment we get outside you and your boyfriend are going to tell me exactly what’s going on. And if you try to keep it from me any longer I will kick both of you in the balls I swear to God.”
Nate raised a hand in the air. “Alright. Okay.” He said.
“Good. Now get whatever it is that you or Vaughan or the both of you need and let’s get the hell out of here.” Charlie said. She turned her attention back to the ground and picked out more stray bottles. Nate moved away from her and walked to the back room.
(o) Talk to Vaughan
He saw movement in the dark room and pointing his flashlight at it. Vaughan flinched when the light hit him and nearly fell over.
“Vaughan-” Nate began.
“Nate, I can’t any temozolomide!” Vaughan said after he forced himself to stop stuttering.
| Look harder |
| It’s okay |
| ... |
“How do you say that word so quickly?” Nate wondered. “I mean shit, I can’t even say it speaking normally.”
“Nate I’m being serious!” Vaughan whispered as loudly as he could. “I can’t find it! What am I supposed to do? Will we have to go to another hospital? Did I risk all of our lives for no reason? I-” He put his hands to his head and looked at the ground. “What am I going to do?”
| You’re really annoying |
| The hospital has more meds |
| ... |
“The first thing you’re going to do is breathe, slowly.” Nate put a hand on his shoulder. Vaughan lowered his arms and slowed his breathing down. After a few dozen breaths he looked up at Nate.
“Now, you’re going to wait for me to come back.” Nate told him. Before Vaughan could ask what he meant Nate continued. “I’m going to look around. I’m sure the hospital has more than one place where they keep their medication. I’ll try to find it. You keep looking in there, maybe you’ll find something.” Nate let go of Vaughan’s shoulder.
“Alright.” Vaughan said. “Be careful.” Nate nodded and walked away. Charlie didn’t look at him when he passed her and walked out of the pharmacy.
He went two halls away from the pharmacy when he realized that his arms felt very tired. He looked at the baby and the baby stared back at him.
“You get really heavy after a while, you know that?” Nate told the baby. The baby didn’t care. She rested her head on his shoulder and wiggled a bit. “Rude ass baby.” Nate said under his breath. He found an elevator and went towards it.
(o) Look at sign
There was a sign near the elevator that showed what kind of practice was done on each floor. Cancer treatment was on floor five.
“I have to go up five flights of fucking stairs with this heavy ass baby.” Nate groaned. “Goddamn it.” He turned to his right, saw the doors for the stairs, and walked.
(o) Look at doors
There were multiple pieces of metal shoved in between the handles of doors. All of them had a slight bend that pointed forward.
“I better pull these out if I’m going to get up stairs. I just hope whatever these were keeping in are gone now.”
(o)
He pulled one out and placed it on the floor.
(o)
And then another.
(o)
And another.
(o)
And another.
(o)
Another.
(o)
The second last one was out.
(o)
“There.” Nate said as the final piece of metal came out.
(o) Listen at door
Nate put his ear to the door and listened. He thought he hear the door creak but nothing more.
(o) Open door
Nate moved the baby to the other arm and held onto the handle.
“Ready?” He asked the baby. The baby sighed. Nate opened the door, leaning his free shoulder on the edge to keep it open, and pointed his flashlight.
The corridor was packed with zombies.
Nate stepped back and tried to force the door closed. The bodies of the monsters stopped the door from closing all the way. Nate ran. His arms were heavy. The moans of zombies trailed after him. Nate almost fell. A door broke as he past it and more zombies came out. Nate’s arms left weak. He turned the corner and nearly collided with a zombie. He moved out of the way. It grabbed for him and missed. Nate ran faster. He almost dropped the baby. She didn’t cry. The moans were getting louder. Nate made it to the pharmacy and had to put the baby down on a counter before he accidentally let her fall. His arms felt weighed down by stones.
“Charlie! Vaughan! We got to go now!” He screamed. Charlie and Vaughan didn’t wait for an explanation and followed him as he ran out the pharmacy. They sprinted down the halls, the lights of their flashlights dancing crazily all around them, until they made it to the window they first came out of and jumped through.
Both Nate and Charlie made it to the other side unharmed, but Vaughan landed badly and his head hit the ground. Charlie helped him up.
“My head...” Vaughan groaned. “I was already having a headache and... fuck...”
“Let’s get back to the truck. We don’t need to be here anymore.” Charlie said. Nate gave a small nod, irritated with himself. He ruined their chance at getting the cancer pills and now-
“Nate?” Vaughan asked, his face tense with pain. “Where’s the baby?” Nate looked at him blankly, wondering what the hell he was talking about, until he noticed that his arms felt much lighter than they had before. Faintly, he heard the baby crying from inside.
“Leave the baby.” Charlie told him. Nate stared at her. A dark haze passed over his eyes.
“...What?” He growled, his voice low and deadly.
“If you go in there, you’ll die. If you bring the baby out here, zombies from all over will come and overwhelm us before we can leave. You can fight me, you can shoot me, but I am telling the truth.” Charlie said quickly. Nate looked away from her. She was right. “We have to-”
“No!” Vaughan cried through his pain. “Nate, you have to get her! I know you don’t like children and I know you said we have to do anything to survive, but she’s just a baby! Please! You h-” Vaughan couldn’t finish, his migraine was too strong. He gripped his head and groaned.
“Nate, either we all die or the three of us get to live.” Charlie told him, letting go of his arm. “That’s what your choices really are.” Nate looked at Charlie, then Vaughan, and then through the window. He should go, take Charlie and Vaughan and get out of the city as quickly as he could. He barely knew the baby. He didn’t even know her name. He didn’t know if she really was a she at all. He didn’t owe her anything. His friends were is priority, not some stranger he found.
He could still hear the baby cry.
| Get baby |
Nate ran to the window and threw himself back inside.
“Nate!” Charlie screamed.
“Go to the truck!” He screamed back. They wouldn’t be able to get inside, he still had the keys, but he didn’t care. His feet barely touched the ground as he dashed towards the pharmacy. He saw zombies slowly trudging towards the crying sounds and pulled out his gun. He shot, he dodged, he shoved, and ran around all the monsters that came his way.
Then the crying turned into the worst sound Nate ever heard. It was a shrill, panicked noise that hit such a high octave that it could break glass, and it got higher and higher as Nate ran forward. It was filled with hysterical pain, a sound that only people in hell could empathize with. And it was coming from a baby, that was the worst part, it was coming from a child and children were never supposed to make sounds like that.
Then it stopped. It didn’t gradually turn into sniffles and then soft moaning sounds like when Vaughan had calmed her down in the truck, and it didn’t fade away like when Nate had fed her in the nursery. Just stopped. Like it hadn’t been there at all.
Nate stopped in front of the pharmacy when this had happened, zombies all around him but not noticing his presence, not yet. If he had just left when the crying ceased to be, then it wouldn’t have been as terrible. The sounds of the baby would have haunted him but he wouldn’t have had visuals to go with them. Unfortunately, he didn’t go. He stayed standing there, looking into the pharmacy.
And when the zombie walked out with a bloody mess in its hands, he saw exactly what had happened to the baby.
He had been in serious emotion pain due to the baby’s death. It felt as someone had electrocuted his soul. The guilt, sadness, the what-ifs and anger had hit him so fast that his brain didn’t know how to handle it. So his mind simply decided to shut all his emotions off. And now he was driving aimlessly.
He found this fascinating in a cold and clinical way.
He thought that he must have not gone through something like this before if his brain decided that the best way to deal with all of these emotions was to not deal with them at all. That was quite pathetic, he thought he was stronger than that. Oh well.
He also found it odd that the baby’s death did not effect how he felt about the deaths the other people. Nate assumed at one point that he was only suppressing his guilt towards the people he hurt, and if were to feel something one day then all the guilt from what happened to Anya and Hanna and Guatier would come flooding in and he would be a wreck. That hadn’t happen. His feelings towards them had stayed the same.
Nate was interested in what that said about him. Was he really a psychopath? Was he still suppressing his guilt of their deaths and not realizing it? Or was something else wrong with him? Nate wanted to know, though it wasn’t as if anyone could tell him.
“Nate.” Charlie said sternly. Nate turned his eyes off the road and expressionlessly stared at Charlie. She looked frustrated and a bit scared. Nate couldn’t remember if Charlie had ever been scared of him before. Vaughan was sleeping, his head tapping gently against the window whenever the car bumped. Nate looked away from Charlie and stared in front of him.
The sky was dark. There were stars out. Nate was vaguely confused. It had been the afternoon when he got into the truck and drove out of the city. Had he been driving the entire time? He looked at the gas gauge and saw that it was almost empty. It had almost been full when he got into the truck.
“We need gas.” Nate said. He noticed the emotion had left his voice as well and also found that interesting. He pulled to the parking lot of a restaurant and stopped the truck. He got out, felt pressure in his bladder, saw a restroom and walked in.
When he finished his business, he stepped out of the stall and saw Charlie standing there. He stared at her in the broken down, strong smelling bathroom.
| This is the male’s bathroom |
| Go away |
| ... |
“This is the male’s bathroom.” He told her. Nate went to the sink to wash his hands. The sink didn’t work.
“Nate, you have to snap out of it.” Charlie said firmly. “I let you act like you’re brain dead for the last five hours but you have to stop. Now.” Nate blinked.
| Leave me alone |
| Okay |
| ... |
“Five hours?” Nate said aloud. “I see.” Charlie growled. She walked closer Nate, grabbed his collar, and pulled him closer to her. Nate let himself be pulled.
“I don’t understand why you feel so bad now.” Charlie snarled. “You told me that you barely felt anything when you killed that bitch before, and you hardly give a shit when I killed the parents of that goddamn baby your so hung over! The puppy was just another obstacle in our way, so just get over her like you got over the others alred-” Nate grabbed Charlie’s arms and slammed her into a stall door. It made a loud bang as her back collided with metal. Nate’s eyes burned into hers. He had snapped out of it.
| Shut up |
| Not children |
| ... |
“Not. Fucking. Children!” Nate roared. “I never killed a child, you sick fuck!”
“So that’s the problem?” Charlie sounded genuinely curious. “It was her age?” Nate pulled her back from the stall door and slammed her back into it. She groaned and shook her head.
| I hate you |
| Would you kill us? |
| ... |
“Never again! Do you hear me!?” Nate thundered. “If we come across another child, none of us are killing shit! Do you understand!?”
“I understand that you’re not going to.” Charlie said. “But I’m not letting anybody put us in danger.” Nate was shaking with rage. He pulled her back and slammed her back onto the stall door even harder now. Charlie hissed in pain.
“I’m going to kill you.” Nate said in a low voice.
“No you won’t.” Charlie told him.
| Not today |
| [Kill Charlie] |
| ... |
Nate took his hands off of Charlie’s shoulder and wrapped them around her neck. Charlie flinched, her eyes bulged, and that look of fear passed over her again. Nate laughed. It was low and unstable.
(?) Charlie will remember that
“Whose not doing what now, bitch?” Nate asked. He squeezed his hands. Charlie’s fear grew, but after a moment the fear left her face and she gave Nate a bored look.
“Nate.” She said with some difficulty. “If you’re going to kill me, you have to squeeze harder than that.” Nate looked at his hands and tried to press down. He couldn’t. Charlie slowly moved her hands on top of his. He flinched and tried to choke her again. He still couldn’t do it. Charlie held his hands and slowly moved them away from her neck. He lowered his head and let her move his hands to his sides.
“...Okay,” Charlie said. “If we’re done here then we need to-” The bathroom door flew open and Vaughan came in, his bow and arrow ready to fire. Charlie and Nate froze.
“Vaughan?” Charlie asked. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Where are Charlie and Nate?” Vaughan demanded. Nate and Charlie looked at each other confused before looking back at Vaughan.
“...That’s us.” Charlie said. Vaughan shook his head furiously.
“No. You’re not them.” Vaughan said, pointing his weapon at her. “Where are they? What have you done with my friends!?”
“Oh shit.” Nate murmured. “He’s hallucinating.” Charlie stared at him, baffled. “Charlie, don’t say anything. Let me deal with this.”
“She isn’t Charlie!” Vaughan screamed. He pointed the bow and arrow at Nate.
| You’re right |
| What do you see? |
| ... |
“You’re right.” Nate said, slowly raising his hands in the air. “We aren’t your friends. But we know where they are.” Charlie gawked at him.
“Where are they?” Vaughan asked with a trembling voice.
“I’ll tell you.” He said. “But you have to deal with the man behind you first.” Vaughan spun around. Nate ran and tackled him. They both went flying out of the bathroom. When they hit the ground outside Vaughan rolled away from Nate, stood up, and tried to get his arrow ready. Nate stood up and ran towards him.
(o)
Nate punched Vaughan hard in the stomach. Vaughan dropped his weapon and held his midsection, wheezing as he tried to keep upright.
(o)
Nate drew his arm back and punched him in the face. Vaughan’s head whipped to the side and his glasses flew off. He collapsed to the ground. Nate stood above him and waited for him to get up. He didn’t.
“God, I hope I didn’t hurt him too badly.” Nate sighed as he knelt down beside younger man. Charlie came out of the bathroom and stood behind him.
“That is fucking it!” Charlie said. “I want to know what you two are hiding from me right now! No more lies, no more ‘pretty eyes’ shit! I want to know now!” Nate moved Vaughan onto his back.
“Nate!” Charlie screamed. Nate looked at her.
| He’ll tell you |
| Why should we? |
| ... |
Nate looked back at Vaughan. “He has cancer.” Nate said quietly. He felt Charlie stare at him.
“What?” Charlie asked. Nate put to fingers to Vaughan’s neck and checked his pulse. It was beating fast but slowing down.
“He has a tumor in his brain. It’s at stage three and his doctor told him that his chances aren’t very good. I shouldn’t have hit him in the head...” Charlie went quiet. When she spoke up, her voice was very low and firm.
“We’re not leaving him.” Charlie said. “He’s mine. You don’t mess with my shit.” Vaughan moved. He groaned, opened his eyes. Nate grabbed his shoulders and helped him to a sitting positioned. Vaughan looked around, momentarily lost in his own head, before becoming slowly more aware of his surrounding. He looked at Nate.
“We didn’t find any medication...” Vaughan said slowly. “I put the two of you in danger and a baby died because of me...”
“Vaughan!” Charlie interrupted. “When were you going to tell me you had cancer!?” He looked up at her, startled and confused. His body tensed up and be began to stutter; trying to explain himself, trying to apologize for not telling her sooner and getting sick in the first place. Then his body slowly relaxed and he began to laugh. He was smiling but his laughter sounded like sobs. Nate stood up and walked away from the angry woman and the hysterical man.
He found Vaughan’s glasses, picked them up, and looked up at the sky. The stars were still beautiful even after everything had gone to hell. He found himself wishing he were put there. He would suffocate from the lack of oxygen and the pressure of space would destroy his insides, but at least he would be with the stars and not here where everything had gone to shit.
“God, I need a drink.”
I also wish Vaughan and Charlie were characters in the actual video game. It's a shame really, since you've got this geeky guy and a girl arguing to kill a baby. It was really fascinating to read about how Nate would have acted around a child, considering he becomes a messed up psychopath by time it's day 41.
Keep posting, you've done a really great job so far!
Oh, and Lilly is an angel compared to Charlie.
I think it was Day 41 when he became unstable.
"Did you see that guy's eyes Wyatt? That guy is fucking gorked!"
Thank you all so much for your kind words. You have no idea how much your interest means to me. I'm going to try really hard to make the rest of the chapters just as good and even better than the ones I have now.
1- I've begun planning episode 3 (though I'm having difficulties because I've changed how things are going to happen).
2- I've named the first and second episodes of The Walking Dead: Real Monsters (because they can't go without names). Episode 1 is called Beyond Moral Support and Episode 2 is called Nursing Danger.