Brad’s POV
For an hour, we had been talking about Melanie’s group where they hated us for being undead zombies. Never knew that they grew to trust us during the time we stayed at the Solstice Inn during the mist. In the past, when we go into a settlement or community, we don’t stay for long periods of time, since the survivor can be wary of dealing with us.
Samantha was the one who shared her knowledge with me about us Sentients being undead zombie with minds of our own. She also told me that… I couldn’t get buzzed even if I wanted to, the alcohol would go through the digestive track but not digest it completely. I also learned how to hone our abilities over time to where I can contact people from long distances as long I maintain a link from them.
“Hey, Jack!” I contacted an old acquaintance of mine. “How things at Price?”
“Oh, hey Brad! I can take it you are near there, correct?” He and I go way back before I arrived in California, I wondered how he was doing lately…
“Yep, We’ll be there in a few moments, We just passed Helper. They were a lot of dead in the area.”
“I see… I’ll see you soon enough!”
“Brad?” Jason finally spoke up. He had been silent lately since we left.
“What is going on, man? I tried to probe your mind, it is becoming like a fortress and I don’t know what you are thinking.” He smiled when he saw that I cannot enter his mind.
“It’s about Melanie… She…” He stopped himself.
“Are you concerned about her? She is in excellent hands!”
“NO!” He took a deep breath, he had to stop himself from finishing what he was getting ready to say. “No! She is not.”
“Jason, what has gotten into you? If I what said to you-” Jason turns on Jenny with fury in his eyes, he is not mad at her… Is he blaming himself for what happened to her?
“A man in a military uniform who wore a black mask attacked us while we at the basement. He stabbed her with his bare hand! I did nothing as he did…” Tears stream down on his face. “He was only after me… Only me! I kept asking myself, what did I do for him to pursue me?”
“You had no way of knowing what he is capable of. You should be-”
“And why did you withhold from us until now?” Now I understand why he blamed himself for what happened to Melanie. “You didn’t harm her, I know.” I pulled over on the side of the highway, I need to speak to Jason on this.
“No, I didn’t, but the man moved so fast that he impaled her before I can react.” He lamented he was powerless to react to save Melanie.
“Why didn’t you tell them before we left? You kept silent on the whole thing, did you?” I turned to face Jason, which by then, it is eating him up inside.
“She asked to keep as a secret, I told her she will not last the day. And I… I…. Should have spoken up sooner.”
“That was a foolish thing for you to do, man! YOU COULD HAVE TOLD SOMEONE OR AT LEAST TELL ME, SAM OR JENNY! It is one thing to help you get your memories, It is one thing to encounter a zombified solider during the mist… Hiding an infected wound, however…” This is… This is too much! “Get out of the car, Jason.”
“Brad? What are you-” I jumped out of the car, rushing to the passenger seat where Jason is and open the door to the passenger seat.
“GET THE FUCK OF THE CAR! NOW!” Jason got out of the car, but what were you thinking.
“Brad!” I motioned for them to not interfere.
I went to punch Jason, which it didn’t occur to him I would do so. He stood there at a loss of what to say at this point.
“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” I got into his face, I didn’t like the way he handled the situation. “NOW THEY HAVE TO CONTEND WITH A INFECTED WHO MAY HAVE KILLED THEM ON THEIR WAY TO THE COMMUNITY. AND GOD FORBID, YOU WOULD THE SENSE TO TELL AT THAT MOMENT. BUT YOU HAVE SAID NOTHING REGARDLESS OF THAT!”
“I know, Brad! I was angry, too! I didn’t want to hide this knowledge from her. You think I would have done the same thing, too?!” Jason gets into my face. “She told me she would tell them herself and had I known that she would keep the wound a secret, I would spoke up sooner!”
“YOU SHOULD HAVE, JASON! YOU SHOULD HAVE FUCKING SPOKE UP INSTEAD OF REMAIN SILENT ON THESE THINGS!” I’m not accepting this, he still should have told someone.
“AND BREAK HER TRUST?” Jason… “THEY WOULD HAVE KILLED HER-”
“WHICH THEY SHOULD HAVE BUT INSTEAD OF YOU HAD THE BRIGHT IDEA OF LETTING THEM HEAD HOME KNOWING SHE CAN TURN AND KILL THEM OR IF SHE LUCKY AND BECOME SENTIENT, I’M NOT EVEN SURE THEY’LL LET HER REMAIN AMONG AFTER THAT.”
Jason hung his head, realizing he let her becoming a risk to her group with her turning into an infected. I know he means to honor her last wishes but…
“Tell me to hit the road!” What? “You heard me… if I’m going to be a danger to everyone around me, I’ll leave right now.”
“No, Jason… Don’t walk away from us.” I stood in his way and grabbed his shoulders. “You learned from this, I stop the car to let you know you could have said ‘no’ or at least come to me, you know I can be subtle.”
“Also… I enjoy having you around, Jason. She knew the man infected her wound, and she made the choice not telling them.” Jenny is jumping into the conversation. “You even hoped she would do the right thing, but out of fear, she brought upon by not speaking up!”
“Jenny, you are out of line!” I didn’t like the way she spoke of Melanie.
“No… She had a point, Brad. I warned this would happen should she choose to hide the wound. And I should spoke up or at least consult with you beforehand.”
“Good, now can we go already? Unless you are planning to kick him out to the curb? If you do, I’ll walk too.”
“Jenny, I am not kicking him out to the curb. He seemed he needed some help.” I shook my head, recalled that one man had him dead to rights.
“Samantha! He needs some help!” I notice a man held a shotgun to Jason’s head.
“Leave him be. He doesn’t will last long, anyway.” If we don’t do something, he’ll die.
“Still, we need to help him!” I insist Sam should step in and get involved.
“The loser got himself into this mess, let him get himself out of it.” I can’t believe they will let him die…
“Then I’ll help him myself!” Samantha quickly blocks my way. “Move out of the way, Sam!”
“Then send me to handle this! You are the leader of this group and I’m capable of moving in and out in a fight.” Sam… you didn’t have to do this… “If you go there, they will blow you to bits and I know your telekinesis isn’t that strong to stop the bullets from puncturing your vital origins.”
“Why you are…?” Samantha headed straight there, I swear she moves like a ninja.
“Make sure that he is worth of the investment. I hate to see if he turns out to be a worthless freeloader.” Samantha… Why she helped him… me being stubborn or she’ll know that I’ll get myself killed trying to save him… I appreciate it.
“Oh, man! We are wasting our time, trying to save a fucking freeloader…” Jenny walked off to the van. She must not like the idea of helping a random stranger.
“I thought you didn’t like him, Jenny! You called a freeloader!” I raised my eyebrow at her.
“He prove me wrong and he knows how to slay the empties!” And yet I saw you having a blast back at the hotel. “Besides… It would not be the same without him.”
“Yeah…” Samantha now go out of the car. “I thought he would prove to be a disappointment. At least, he can think long- term and he is a good return in investment.”
“Glad that I made the right choice of saving him. We wouldn’t get as far we did, if it wasn’t him being a big help.”
“We would have got through by ourselves either way. I saw even Jason gather all the bullets and sent back at that zombie wearing a hazmat.” She enjoyed Jason’s company.
“Sammy, they are Empties not ‘zombies’ “Jason seem to laugh his butt at that.
“Try calling them ‘Soulless corpses’ I’m sure they’ll feel something.” We had a laughter on that.
“Jason… Are you going to stay with us until the end?” I steer the conversation back to Jason, wanting to still leave.
“I wouldn’t stay ‘until the end’, Brad. But I do plan to remain with you guys until I found who I’m and if I have a family…” I put my hand on his shoulder.
“Get back in the car! I know the ladies are getting restless.” Jenny is jumping up and down when I said we are taking off. I guess they warmed up to him.
Encountered a patrol
As we got near the town of Price, I saw one of the militia vehicles approaching us. I slowed down the speed of my car, The last thing I want for us to be mistaken as threats. I told them to stay in the car and keep their hands up as they got near.
“You are coming the near the community…” The man noticed Jason and Samantha, he clenched his teeth. “Y-You’re the bitch who attacked us back at Sandy!”
“And you’re the Asshole who nearly killed me with that shotgun of yours!” Wow…
“Also, I’m the one who popped inside your head and left those suggestions in your head.”
“You… You…. You think it was funny?!” it frustrated the man that we poked fun of him, he was weak-willed and easily fooled.
“Jamie! Are you done yelling at them?” Her! That is the one who chased after Jason. “I remember ya, you’re the woman who attacked us at the store and you’re the one who sics the meat eaters on me.”
“I have nothing to do with that, ma’am.”
“And you’re lucky that I ain’t bitten up.” The woman is a lot more serious than her brother.
“Ma’am, I know you have a problem with us, Sentients. If you can take us to your leader in charge, we can explain our situation.” The woman motions for us to get off the car.
“You got a lot of nerve to come here to Price… And you think I forgot about the stunt you pulled?”
“Look, Ma’am! Jack is expecting us, I had contacted a couple of minutes ago. I am the one responsible for putting the words of your brother back at Sandy.” The woman’s eyes widen the moment I mentioned it to her.
For a moment, I assume she would have yelled at us or shooting us down for messing with her brother. To my surprise, she simply nodded her head at us and let a slight smirk on her face.
“I’ll let Burk know you want to speak with our leader. You gotta talk it over with him first, since you guys are outsiders.” She looks at her brother. “Unless you got a problem with that? I don’t have to remind you of the last time, your behavior had almost gotten us killed us before…”
Jamie was speechless not only at his sister’s temper but now he knows that I was the one I dived into his mind. He shook his head and fall in line; we did the same as we follow to them settlement of Price. Jason mentioned he met briefly with them while we were in Sandy, he didn’t seem to be the type to like our kind.
Arrived in the city of Price
“So we meet again!” Burk moved toward Jason. Since the last time they met, they tried to kill him because they took as a threat. I was wary if they still kill him.
“I assume, Sir, you still want to kill me after the last time we met?” Jason!
“Long ago, Zombie, I would have done so… Your kind has killed many of us, even of my folks has become part of the dead.” He walked around Jason, I can tell that he must have hated us… The virus has ravage the world, turn most into the living dead and some of us into the Sentient. “After gotten into a setback with you and your undead friends, our community… the community that we had wanted to bring the supplies back at was destroyed by your kind.”
“It is my fault that my delay has held you back and -” Burk walks up to his face.
“I don’t need your fucking pity, Undead freak! And since when you know what it is like, to lose a community of people of your loving ones, my beloved… and those that trust you to come back home?” Jason teared up when hearing from his story.
“I don’t, I have no memories of my past life. But I KNOW what it is like to lose a love one. I’ve made the mistake of keeping a dark secret which it might have gotten people killed for it.” Jason looks him in the eyes, he knows what it is like to lose someone important to him. “But, I had wanted to know how did you find the community of Price? It was a chance that you could find a community to give back to society and to do it right again.”
“And to my surprise they were undead freaks like you in living a community… I didn’t like the idea of them living among us after they did to us, to Millcreek…” He shake off the thought. “My sister was the one who talked into the idea of giving them a chance. If it was up to me, I would make sure that I would put every bullet in your skulls, so I make sure that you won’t be causing problems for us.”
“We’ll prove ourselves that we will not cause problems here and at least, we plan to at least say here for a week.” I spoke up for my group. We may be part of the walking dead. We will not be part of the dead that wants the death of every living community that is trying to rebuild their community.
“Not enough, I saw it enough times that even a ‘sentient’ caused a large outbreak in the communities.”
“Then place us in under surveillance, Burk. And if we are going to cause problems for the community, put us down. But by judge-” Burk glares at him, which Jason reason to pause on what he wants to say.
“I plan to, zombie.” He is not raising his voice, I don’t need to know when he is ready to have us all killed here and now. “But I will let you see the leader and you are going to prove you will not be a threat to the community.”
“Really? Can we go already?! Because-” Not now, Jenny. I reminded her not to push our luck here still he is going to take us to Jack, who is leading the community here. “Fine…”
“Right this way…” Burk and his men escorted us to the city hall where my old friend lived. Price had been through a lot throughout the times even before the zombie apocalypse began. Its economy had remained strong over the years, it is also helped by its neighboring communities near the city that helps the city’s Instructure.
