S4, E4 | After They Reached Vancouver

“Answer the question” the gunman demands, his steady arm extending the barrel toward the woman’s face, which surprises the man with its unchanged demeanour. Though time has been bought, the horde that followed the lead of their much livelier contemporaries continues to approach, their guttural groans almost sounding comparable to locusts- enough to raise the hairs on each survivor’s neck.

“How do you know Halston?” Marta wonders aloud, earning a pair of squinted eyes from each of her new acquaintances, still yet to fully piece together who they are. “The better question is- why do you have her gun?” the man- whose hand holds the woman’s fate within its power- inquires, a brief step forward only bringing the weapon closer to the woman’s pale visage.

“Jules, don’t get too close” the blonde woman warns, speaking aloud what she assumes is little more than a friendly reminder to keep distance from the unknown, though her five words soon come to change the narrative entirely. “Jules?” Marta asks aloud, looking back at the woman for a moment with a more surprised expression, their stare holding for a few seconds before the odd-woman out redirects her sights toward the second man- the same expression held, “that means you’re Terry, right?”

Pulling his head slightly back, Terry’s face narrows into a look of confusion as his lips part, unable to speak the words that clutter his mind- yet to form a coherent sentence. “How do you know his name?” Jules asks, pulling the weapon back as to heed Elsie’s warning, a slight shake in his hand shattering the composed, unyielding display he’d presented, the wheels of his curiosity truly set in motion.

“Lou- I know Lou” Marta replies, looking into the eyes of her potential gunman as they begin to widen, the rest of his group’s following suit as the air immediately loses its tension, the utterance of the man’s name bringing a silence over the group as if it were the boogeyman’s. With a look to his left, Jules’ eyes fall upon Elsie, who joins Josie in continuing to stare at their as-of-yet untrusted fifth member before her eyes cast in the direction of the distant, unspoken man.

“L- Lou? You know Lou?” Terry asks back as his bottom lip quivers, such a question being asked in good faith not something he would’ve ever anticipated being able to wonder aloud. “She doesn’t- it’s bullshit” Jules replies, yet to believe such a truth could be possible as he writes it off as impossible, strengthening his stance in opposition to the woman’s claims with a large step forward, his arm steadying once more as the weapon follows suit.

“I do! He’s with the rest of my group on Vancouver Island!” Marta exclaims back, feeling the weight of her back pressing against a metaphorical wall as she pleads her case, practically begging those she stands before to embrace her declaration. “He’s there! So are Theo, and Lee, and Jenn!” Marta proclaims, both hands raised into the air as she finally manages to regain her breath, watching Terry’s hand extend toward Jules’ weapon gently- making an effort to lower the hostility.

“What about Halston? Why do you have her gun?” Jules asks, clearly making an effort to lower the rigid posture he’s presented against the woman of equal age at Terry’s request, still wanting an answer to the question. “Lou gave it to me. He said he got it from her on the boat and he gave it to me when we started training” Marta explains, trying to keep her voice calm, though an obvious anxiety hides within the reflexion she speaks with.

“Guys, this isn’t the place to have this talk” Josie remarks, turning her back to the dialogue as she readies her tomahawk, preparing for the battle that looms closer as the rest take it upon themselves to discuss. “Well, what else are we supposed to do?” Jules proclaims, watching the woman step onward as the first few stragglers round the corner, stepping far enough ahead of their horde to close in on the group, “we can’t just take her with us!”

“Yes we can” Terry quickly replies, gently disarming his friend of the weapon before turning it back upon their new ally, “-we’re just gonna have to be careful.” Pressing his lips together to form a frown, Jules stares at the man for a moment before caving to his decision. “Everyone, back upstairs!” the newly-appointed gunman exclaims, moving aside to let Elsie and Josie pass as they follow Jules in retreat, Marta soon to follow as the group’s apparent leader follows closely behind.

Dashing up each set of stairs, Jules leads the retreat from chaos, hurrying through one corridor after another on his way toward perceived sanctuary, each member of his group following closely behind- matching each step with one of their own. “Where was the garage supposed to be?” Elsie calls out, her figure the one sprinting just ahead of Marta’s, the tomahawk she wields in her right hand an exact replica to the one Josie wields ahead of her.

“I can’t remember!” Jules calls back, climbing the next set of stairs to its very top before finding himself cornered, the rest of the group following his lead into an overrun corridor filled with the building’s now-undead tenants. “Shit!” the man exclaims, moving aside as Josie dashes past him, driving the blade of her weapon through the skull of one corpse- who’d stood beside an open door and been momentarily separated from the rest of his pack.

“Get in, let’s go!” the woman exclaims, pressing her back against the door’s frame as she makes way for the rest of her fellow survivors to enter, the horde beginning to close in just as the door slams shut, buying the group a moment to breathe as they narrowly avoid a meeting with the reaper. Locked at both the deadbolt and the doorknob, the mostly-empty apartment complex sits newly-occupied- its windows overlooking the beach as its interior serves as a refuge.

“How the hell are we supposed to get out of here now?” Elsie wonders aloud, standing in the centre of the room with her hands on her hips, the rain continuing to fall just beyond the window that Jules stands beside. “We’ll cover ourselves in their guts. We’ll blend in” Marta replies, still held at the half-hearted aim of Terry’s weapon as she strolls to the head of a single bed, its twin sitting just a few metres to the side of it, “the rain will wash it off, but it’ll work as long as we’re here.”

With his lips parted, Terry lowers the gun the rest of the way, its barrel having sat at his hip as he gasped for air- the surprise of what looms just beyond their door having exasperated him. “Holy shit, she does know Lou” the man murmurs beneath his breath, watching the woman’s eyes take toward him without much change, almost as if she hadn’t had a reason to concern herself with the group’s perception of her remarks to begin with.

“Wait, where’s Halston?” Josie replies, almost immediately taking Terry’s declaration as an opening to ask the questions that had lingered over their mind for too long without an answer. “Yeah, where is she?” Elsie doubles down, following the woman’s lead by taking a seat upon the edge of the other bed now that her aura of untrustworthiness begins to deplete, “you said everyone else was at your camp, but you didn’t say where Halston was.”

Looking at the only other white woman in the room with her lips slightly parted, Marta’s head begins to lower with the rest of her eyes, the rest of the group sitting in silence as they wait for an answer. “She, uh” the woman begins to reply, pausing for a moment as she struggles to figure out how to break the ice, though a deep exhale is let out as she decides not to sugarcoat the answer, “she didn’t make it.”

Slightly pulled back, Elsie’s head turns toward the direction of Josie- her back still pressing against the apartment’s door- before it moves to Terry, who leans against a record shelf with the gun at his side, a surprised look in his face. Mostly silent, the room’s following sounds begin with the weight of Jules’ fist slamming against the drywall he sits beside, taking a moment to breathe whilst occupying the nearest windowsill in frustration.

“Goddamnit!” the man exclaims, hanging his head as one arm rests across the top of his knee, the rest of his group feeling the same aggravation, though separately from each other. “The dead got to her before we found Jenn- there was nothing we could do” Marta doubles down, trying her best to leave little unspoken with intentions of letting the group grieve, only for her words to bring anger over the distant man.

“Stop fucking talking!” Jules exclaims, pointing his finger as he bursts away from the window, marching toward the girl as he spouts vigour before Terry steps in his way, holding him back from continuing. “Calm down, calm the fuck down!” the firearm-holding man commands, gently shoving the man back to his original side of the room, able to feel his rage without losing his cool in much the same way, “the girl had nothing to do with it.”

“How the fuck do you know!?” Jules shouts back, taking a full step in retreat before turning his frustration toward his friend, “how do we know she’s even telling us the truth!? Maybe she’s not close with them like she says!”

“I’m telling you the truth” Marta calmly retorts, watching the man’s enraged, scrunched-up face turn back to look at her from over Terry’s shoulder. “Then why the fuck are you here!?” Jules calls back, though his temper continues to flare, it presents questions the rest of his group can’t help but find investment in hearing the answers to, “if you know where everyone else is, why the fuck are you out here- alone- shooting at the dead and walking the streets!?”

“Jules, calm the fuck down!” Terry screams back, his voice rising over the man’s own before his enraged friend spins around, returning to the original place he’d sat in silence, trying to gather himself as the rest of the group watches on. “No, that’s a fair question- and I’m fine with answering it” Marta replies, wishing to take the initiative to clear the air in hopes it’ll help the group warm itself to her more, “you might not like what I’m gonna say though, so just- keep your cool.”

“We left Halston behind and now she’s dead, girl-” Elsie replies, looking to their fifth wheel out of the corner of her eyes as her head hangs halfway, “-I don’t know that you’re gonna say anything that can hurt us anymore than that does.” Pulling in a deep breath as Terry turns back to face her- Jules doing much the same with his arms crossed as he lowers himself back upon the windowsill- the woman’s face begins to shrivel.

“I beg to differ” Marta replies, resting her arms against the top of her legs as she leans forward, the rest of the group she speaks to only invested in her answers more. “Lee broke off from you guys on the boat from what I’ve heard- I guess he led a bunch of people into the lifeboats before the ship went down and got them to shore from what it sounds like” the woman continues, “he found Theo at sea and brought him back too. They settled in and started building a camp.”

“Lee’s in charge of a group now?” Elsie asks aloud, caught by surprise as she leans back, letting her tomahawk rest against the bed that she slowly lowers back into, “I’m shocked.” With a breathy laugh leaving through her nose, Josie hangs her head as she strolls away from the room’s entrance, shaking her head subtly as she walks across the room, beginning to pace as the young woman continues to make her case.

“Before you continue, did he ever tell you how he lost the arm?” Terry wonders back, apologetic for interrupting her recollection, “I mean- he had it when we boarded, but it was gone the next time we saw him.”

“They cut it off on the boat. It must’ve had an infection, I don’t know why else they’d do it” Marta replies, using the inquiry as a jumping off point for the rest of her explanation. “He washed up on the shore when the boat went down, walked through Victoria for a little bit and then hiked into the mountains” the woman continues, “he found us, then he found Lee and Theo. We joined the camp when our cabin got taken out by an avalanche, then Lou ran off and found Jenn.”

“Why did he run off?” Jules interjects, the question one with too much weight behind it to leave unasked. With a frown, the girl’s head takes a bow as the rest of the group take notice of her pause, the seconds that pass without an answer prompting minds to race with their own theories. “We weren’t very open to change. Aside from Courtney, we hadn’t actually seen much of what was happening in the world until Lou showed” Marta explains, “-we sort of grated on him over time.”

Sat in their own silence as the theories fizzle out, the four survivors simply wait for the woman to continue speaking, the story too open-ended for their interest not to be taken. “Lou hadn’t stopped talking about how he didn’t want to get to attached to us- that he was set on finding you guys. Sebastian- the guy that owned the cabin- got really fed up and told him to go look for you” Marta continues, watching a few eyes drift as others keep to her, “so he left in the middle of the night.”

His frown becoming more pronounced, Jules lets one hand free itself of his crossed arms as it presses against his face, waiting for the woman to finish. “We became friends though, so I went out looking for him. Sebastian didn’t actually want him to run off- none of us did” Marta proceeds, taking in another deep breath as she lifts from her slumped-forward position, “so we went out and found him- and he found Jenn. She told us what happened and that’s how we found out where you were.”

“So why didn’t Lou come out for us?” Jules questions back, the question asked just as a set of gunshots ring off in the near-distance, just loud enough to reach the level of the building the group occupies. “Because I’m not out here looking for you, I’m out here to buy him some time” Marta explains, looking in the direction of the gunshots with much less immediate concern than the rest of the group appears to view it with.

“The woman I mentioned- Courtney- she had a falling out with a group she traded supplies with. They came after her and found our camp” Marta proceeds onward, drawing the crowd’s interest further, “he went out to talk to them, but I couldn’t risk him getting hurt. So, I stole Courtney’s paramotor and flew out to Vancouver hoping the people that were after her would follow me.”

“It sure seems like they did” Josie replies, peering through her window, though unable to those who fire off the shots. “Which is good, ‘cause now it buys them time. I don’t know if they’re gonna leave the camp or settle in and fight, but now they have a chance to be prepared for what happens when these guys come back” Marta proceeds, pulling in a deep breath as she gazes around the room, a much more coherent acceptance of their circumstance appearing to come over them.

“Are these people dangerous?” Terry asks aloud, finally holstering Halston’s weapon in the waistband of his pants as a show of trust for their newly-acquainted survivor. “Courtney says they are, but I don’t know for sure. She said they tried to kill her and she got the better of them, but that’s all I have to go off of” Marta replies, “like I said, I took the paramotor and flew off before they could get to camp. From the looks of it, they care more about getting at Courtney than the camp.”

“So, the others should still be down there?” Elsie inquires, peering back to the young woman with a more accepting visage, following Terry’s lead in lowering her guard. “He was when I left this morning. The only reason he can’t get here is ‘cause he doesn’t have a way to get off the island” Marta explains, “there’s no bridge to the mainland, he doesn’t have a boat, and he hasn’t gotten lucky enough for that to change.”

“Fuck!” Jules exclaims, tilting his head back as he rests against the cold window for a moment, his eyes soon redirecting toward Terry, “I told you we shouldn’t have left the boat at the harbour!” With widened eyes, Marta watches the conversation unfold as the group talks amongst themselves, sights now set on solutions as opposed to defence.

“We didn’t have much of a choice, Jules- you know this” Terry replies, arguing in his favour as Elsie immediately aligns herself with him. “You knew what Jenn and Halston told us to do. Find a place to settle in on the coast” the woman replies, watching the man’s face ease up as he nods. “Alright fine, but let’s not pretend like we haven’t had bigger fish to fry since then” Jules replies, letting his arms fully uncross as they fall into his lap, his back pressing into the cold, transparent pane.

“What is he talking about?” Marta asks aloud, looking to the man she’s taken to be the group’s mouthpiece thus far, Terry’s eyes turning back to her as his face settles. “Well, if Lou and the others told you so much about us- doesn’t something seem out of place here to you?” the man asks back, both hands pressing against his hip as he lets the woman do the maths to herself.

With furrowed eyebrows, the lone-wanderer looks around the room at the people stood before her, eyes taking to Elsie’s patient expression before turning toward the pacing figure that shares the duplicated tomahawk. From Josie, the girl’s eyes take to a more-composed Jules before drifting toward the man that stands before her, waiting for the reply. “Wait a minute” Marta replies beneath her breath, every other corner of the room she looks to sitting empty, “where’s Ally?”

= RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and the entity of Pacer1 =

/ Six weeks prior /

The side of his head slamming against the pavement, an undead corpse collapses to the ground beneath the weight of a hammer, whose claw protrudes from his deceased skull before tearing through fragmented bone. “Leave it! We have to go!” Ally shouts, reclaiming her hammer from the dead’s cranium as Terry and Jules struggle to tie their vessel to the peer, the rope they use too stiff to properly bend.

“We can’t leave it behind, it’ll drift out to sea!” Jules shouts back, desperately trying to help Terry twist the binds together as Ally hurries to their side, her efforts at the front of the line taken over by their tomahawk-wielding duo. “If we leave it tied up, it’ll only be a matter of time before someone comes and takes it anyway!” the woman shouts back, ripping the threads from her friend’s hands before launching it into the sea, forcing their hand into retreat toward safer pastures.

“What the hell!” Terry shouts, watching the rigid binds hit the water and float away before his arm is pulled at, the woman responsible for its casting urging him to depart the scene. “We have no time, let’s go!” Ally exclaims, shoving the man in the women’s direction as Jules follows of his own volition, clearly displeased at the situation- though accepting of the circumstances at play.

One by one, the group huddles together and works their way through the horde, unscathed for the most part as they reach a clearing in the cluster. “Don’t fall behind!” Josie orders as she steps ahead of the group, throwing her hand at whatever corpse stands between herself and the opening, the winter chill that rolls in allowing her an advantage over the struggling monsters.

“Where are we going!?” Jules calls out, swinging his hand at whatever moves as he trails near the group’s end, the only person behind him being the hammer-wielding survivor that provides them cover. “No one knows, just look for somewhere safe!” Terry barks, following just behind Josie as Elsie keeps up beside him, their faces turning in the direction of anything that stands out- residential towers, small storefronts and easily-defendable openings all taken into consideration.

After a few minutes of aimless wandering, the group begins to make their way toward a large, open park with little more than a few straggling corpses. “Follow me!” Terry shouts from the middle of the group, rerouting the group toward a fountain in the middle of a large row of barren trees, their branches stripped of the green that coats them through most of the summer.

Without question, Elsie diverts from her course first before Jules follows, both Josie and Ally providing them cover momentarily before racing toward their direction. Easily discarding a pair of zombies, Terry takes to a gate that Jules soon joins in prying at, trying to quarter off the open space from the undead as the rest of the group soon closes in.

“Hurry up!” Terry shouts, watching Elsie take her tomahawk to the few roamers that litter the open area as the women struggle to catch up, sprinting with all they can manage as sanctuary is built before their eyes. “Buy us some time!” Jules exclaims, tearing at the bottom of the gate that implants itself in the ground, caught on an uneven part of asphalt that appears to be recently-paved, too high for the gate to naturally roll over.

Their task made clear, Ally and Josie turn their backs to the men as the dead begin to close in, their weapons readied as the crash bar to a nearby door appears to be shoved in, the presence of others unexpected as of that moment. “Lift the gate up!” a voice exclaims from within the horde, which appears to turn in the direction of the group’s unaccounted for visitors, who take their weapons to the undead just as the group themselves do.

“What did you say!?” Jules shouts back, his attempts to free the iron bars from their place in the dirt coming to an immediate stop as he- along with the rest of his group- realise that they’re not alone. The first to make her way through the undead cluster, a woman with brown hair and fading purple highlights sprints to the men’s aid, lowering her head as two men and another woman follow suit closely thereafter.

“The gate lifts over the asphalt- lift it up!” the woman exclaims, reaching closer to the ground as the rest of her group joins the frontline with Ally and Josie, aiding Jules and Terry in hoisting the heavy contraption over the poorly-paved walkway. Pulling away from the frontline to join Elsie in clearing the base for their apparent camp, one man departs from the rest of his group, leaving the defence in the hands of the remaining four.

Grunting as they pull the obstruction inward, Terry and Jules watch the horde become subjected to the combined forces of the newly-united survivors, one falling after the other without much of an issue. “Everyone get inside!” the woman aiding in the gate’s relocation commands, prompting the rest of her group to fall back as Ally and Josie stay behind momentarily, taking out a few corpses at the forefront before following suit.

Swiping with her tomahawk, Josie discards a few undead bodies whilst Ally’s hammer finds the decrepit part of a few skulls, eventually coming across one too softened for her weapon to free itself from. “Josie!” the other woman calls out, falling with the corpse she puts down as the hammer takes her hand with it to the ground, bringing the woman to her knees as the dead close in.

“Let it go, Ally!” Josie exclaims, unable to finish her sentence before the woman’s tug at the weapon rips it free from the monster’s head unexpectedly, prompting her to fall back as the dead close in. “Ally, get out of there!” she shouts once more, watching the woman struggle to climb up as the dead soon surround her, the first corpse that looms near finding itself struck with the hammer before it can latch on, the rest that follow suit presenting an insurmountable task.

“Get this gate closed!” one of the men exclaims just before the dead swarm the final, unprotected survivor, allowing her to succumb to their numbers as he sprints forward. Armed with a machete, the courageous man throws his shoulder to the back of the foremost corpse, shoving it into a small group of his peers before swinging at the head of the next closest monster.

Ripping the blade of his weapon free from the corpse’s head, the man’s arm feels the touch of yet another corpse wrap around his arm, its teeth lowering to his skin before its skull is obliterated by the hammer’s claw. With haste, Ally frees herself from the dire situation to wrap her hand around the man’s throat, pulling him back and sprinting with him to safety as the gate closes on their way inside, a dance with the reaper escaped from at the last moment.

“Are you bit!?” the woman- having helped aid in pulling the gate shut- calls out, prompting both survivors to inspect themselves, wanting to make certain of their safety just as she does. “I’m good, Stella” the man replies, catching his breath as he flashes a smile at the woman beside him, her eyes still wandering over every part of her body exposed to the touch. “Me too” Ally replies with a smile, letting free a sigh as she turns her sights to the side, laughing at the man with relief.

As day turns to night, the masses huddle together around a fire as a light drizzle comes over the camp, the stone face of the water fountain offering the controlled blaze protection from the elements. “I’m Stella” the angel responsible for coming to Terry and Jules’ rescue introduces herself, turning her sights toward the line of people that sit alongside her, “that’s Alisa, Keith, and Myles- in that order.”

Looking at the man at the end of the group, Ally subdues a smile as she speaks with appreciation. “Thanks for saving my ass back there, Myles” the woman remarks, met with a shy smile and nod from the same post-apocalyptic hero that had so confidently braved the battleground on her behalf. “I’m Terry, these are Jules, Elsie, Josie and Ally” the man responds, fulfilling his group’s end of the warm welcome with gratitude, “-in that order.”

Chuckling beneath her breath, Stella lowers her head to the ground before replying, “it’s nice to meet you” she says with a warm expression. “Same here” Terry responds charmingly, his soft-spoken remarks to the group eventually interrupted by the inquisitive thought process Jules’ mind traverses. “What are you guys doing out here in Vancouver?” the man wonders aloud, not taking the group across from him to be much for the survivalists he and his friends have become.

“Well, uh- I guess we’re not really sure yet” Keith replies honestly, pausing mid-sentence to take a glance at the rest of his friends, “Vancouver was the closest city to where we started from, so we figured it was a good place to look around.”

“Oh, where are you from?” Elsie asks aloud, looking the man in the eyes before the answer is given from the woman beside him. “Bellingham. A small town across the border” Alisa replies, rubbing her hands against her thighs to create friction for warmth- the crisp, winter air beginning to take its toll on her, “what about you guys?”

“Los Angeles” Ally responds, watching the eyebrows raise on each member of the group across from them. “Woah. How the hell did you get all the way up here?” Alisa responds, amused at the distance the people before her appear to have travelled. “We got on a boat back in the city and it took us north. We got on a little boat when it went down and sailed out to Victoria” Ally responds, holding her hands to the flames that fly into the air before them, “came out here when it was time to settle in.”

“Oh, so you’re staying here?” Alisa questions, almost as if taken by surprise at such a fact. “For the meantime, why? Is something wrong?” Ally replies, immediately watching the woman pull her head back and shake in refusal, the man beside her speaking the woman’s thoughts into existence. “She just thought you guys were heading east like us” the man replies, holding a hand out to the group as a show of goodwill, “I think we all kind of figured you were.”

“East? What’s out east?” Jules wonders aloud, looking at the man with captivated eyes, unsure of much about the group’s future motivations. “A refugee city. A few different outposts a bunch of people started setting up before everything fell” Keith replies, lifting his bare feet closer to the flames as the rain begins to lighten further, dying into what’s barely a mist, “I’ve got a friend in Uni’ that lives across the street from it- said they were taking people in before the lines went dead.”

“No such thing” Josie replies, her inner-pessimist presenting itself as she takes the end of her shirt to the splatters of blood that sit along the head of her weapon. “What do you mean?” Keith asks with a smile, leaning his head toward one side as he waits for the woman to continue speaking, her expression appearing as if such a concept were impossible to believe. “I mean, come on” the woman laughs, looking back at her group- who watch on with as much confusion.

“I mean, who would’ve expected all of this to happen?” Josie wonders aloud, almost as if making the same point to her own group as she does with the other- gesturing toward the dead that hungrily grasp at the bars with the hope of entry. “What does that have to do with anything?” Alisa inquires, raising her doubts over the woman’s point, though it’s one the tomahawk-wielding survivor has a tough time letting go of.

“The only way you’d make a big enough camp from stuff like this is if you’d seen this coming” Josie argues back, shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders at the implication, “I don’t know what your buddy went to, but it definitely wasn’t a city.” Shaking his head in the woman’s direction, Terry retakes his sights toward the group across from him, asking them for more than what his friend had written off.

“Look, I don't know much more about it than that. It’s a few different bases out east all set up to trade with each other” Keith replies, shrugging his shoulders at the holes in his information that he accepts the presence of, “the only one I know of for sure is in Nova Scotia. So that’s where we’re headed.”

“And you’re in Vancouver for what? Supplies?” Elsie asks aloud, immediately met with her answer from the soft voice at the other end of the group. “A helicopter” Myles responds, his unimposing demeanour and timid posture presenting an overall lack of confidence, “my dad taught me to fly a couple years ago. I figured it’d be safer to get there in one of those than it would be to drive across the whole country.”

“Well, I’m pretty sure there’s an airport closeby” Josie replies, though in disbelief of the group’s plan, more than willing to do her part in helping them put together one of viability. “Yeah, that’s where we were heading to last night. But, we’d been walking for a few miles at that point, so we just cut through the dead and hung out in the lobby of that building over there” Keith remarks, pointing to the residential tower they had been cooped up in prior to earlier in the day.

“Well, have you seen anywhere safe to settle in? Maybe make a camp out along the way?” Jules wonders aloud, looking to each of the four faces across from him before one expression presents a pleasant display. “Well, I don’t really know where it is, but there’s a hotel a few blocks away that I remember seeing a story in the paper a few blocks back” Alisa replies, “I guess it had shut down when things really started getting bad, so the dead shouldn’t be that bad out there.”

“That can work for the short term” Terry replies with a nod, glancing down at the rest of his group as he speaks his thoughts aloud, “it’d at least be a decent place to hunker down until we find something long-term.” Shaking her head vehemently, Stella reacts poorly to the man’s plan, arguing against the same plan their counterparts have appeared to present. “You don’t wanna stay here long term” the woman replies, “if anything- you wanna go somewhere quiet and out of the way.”

“Why is that?” Ally asks aloud, drawn in through curiosity at the woman’s reasonings, not finding it difficult to agree with the point being made. “Because cities were meant for society, not survival. Food, water, whatever- all the stuff you need when you think about survival are on the outskirts. Towns, farms, places in the middle of nowhere” Stella responds, “fewer people means fewer of the dead. More space means a place to grow crops and fewer people to worry about.”

“Besides, cities are all just ghost towns now. Zombies everywhere, ransacked stores and more trouble than good” Keith continues, shaking his head in dissatisfaction of the group’s presented line of planning, “if you get the chance- go somewhere quiet and settle in there.” Squinting as the rest of her group sits in silence, Elsie glides the edge of her finger against the polished blade of her tomahawk, taking the other group’s remarks into consideration.

Gathering their belongings as the sun rises on yet another rainy day, the group prepares to depart from each other with their attentions set on different objectives. “Good luck to you guys. Seriously, look for somewhere safer if you can” Keith remarks, preparing to depart his new acquaintances with nothing but well wishes. “We’ll think about it” Ally responds, leaning her head to one side as she fastens a knapsack over her shoulders, “we’ve got some people to wait for first.”

“Well, we hope you find them” Alisa replies, shaking the woman’s hand before doing the same for the rest of the group she prepares to depart from, turning in separate directions as they prepare to leave through different, mostly-cleared gates. “Hey, remember-!” Keith calls out, joining the rest of his group as they begin opening their gate, clearing the way for departure, “if all else fails, just head east!”

Without a word, a few members of the group nod before they follow the same action, opening their gate and clearing the few stragglers that remain waiting for them, advancing upon the streets of Vancouver with their sights set on one destination.

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“I don’t understand, what does any of that have to do with Ally?” Marta wonders aloud, gazing into the direction of each member of the group, all of which holding variously different expressions from each other. “It’s the only idea we have of where she could’ve gone” Terry replies, jumping ahead in the story to spoil the answer of the girl’s question, a result that prompts the girl’s head to pull back.

“Where she could’ve-? What?” Marta responds back, immediately prompting Josie and Elsie to lower their heads whilst Terry’s hands fall from his sides. “We got to the hotel, we settled into different rooms, and after three weeks- she was gone” Jules responds, following through with his friend’s advancement of the story to explain their end of things, “no argument, no fight, no planning, no goodbyes. She was there when we went to bed, and she wasn’t when we woke up.”

“What the fuck do you mean she wasn’t there when you woke up? Where the fuck did she go!?” Marta calls out, prompting Terry to answer with more emotion than he’d spoken to her with since their first introduction. “Haven’t you been listening? We don’t know!” the man responds back, one hand returning to his side as the other waves in the direction of the window, gunshots having stopped for the time being as the air goes silent once more, “we don't know why she left or where she went.”

“And she didn’t leave a note?” Marta wonders back, met with the silent shaking heads of refusal once more, “she said nothing? She gave you no clues? Just- nothing?”

“We had- and still have- no clue where she went or why she left” Elsie doubles down, sharing the same story as the rest of her peers, not an ounce of information left unspoken. Parting her lips, Marta leans back on the bed, pressing her hands into the mattress as she props herself up, the quiet thoughts she speaks to herself leaving her with one, singular thought that just refuses to be shaken from her mind.

“Oh my god-” the woman murmurs beneath her breath, lifting one hand from her side to press firmly against her forehead, her eyes widened as her heart begins to sink, “-this is gonna kill Lou.” With a frown, Terry hands his head as the voice behind him speaks aloud, changing the conversation whilst keeping the subject in question. “Yeah, speaking of which- what do we do now?” Jules asks aloud, earning the attention of each of the room’s inhabitants.

“What do you mean?” Josie wonders back, stopping her pace in the centre of the room as she joins the rest of the group in looking back at the man by the window. “Well, the girl says-” Jules begins to respond, only to be interrupted by the groups newly-entrusted friend. “-Marta. My name is Marta” the woman interjects, watching the irritated grimace on the man’s face find itself returned to her, correcting himself at her behest.

“Fine. Marta says they’ve got danger over on the island. What the fuck do we do about it?” the man inquires, looking around for his peers to provide direction he’s yet to come across. “We go over there and help him obviously” Marta replies, speaking into existence what is much more difficult to put into action. “Yeah, how?” Elsie questions back, presented with a reasonable goal whose path to completion is anything but, “we’ve got no boat.”

“Then we’ll find one” Marta responds, immediately met with the same criticism that had confronted her before. “Alright, great- where?” Jules replies, letting his shoulders fall as his hands throw out to each of his sides, “we’ve mostly stayed to the coast and haven’t seen a single-goddamn-boat, but by all means- where do we go now?”

Sat in silence with a frown, Marta’s eyes take to the side as her ears listen into the distance for the same gunshots that she’d managed to evade, only for her mind to wrap around that cause for concern as a solution rather than something to evade. “We’ll take one” the woman replies, her eyes widening out of newfound hope as the group listens, playing along with her line of thought, “these people followed me in boats. All we need to do is go where they are and take one of theirs.”

Letting out a laugh as Elsie chuckles along with him, Jules presses the back of his head against the window he uses to rest his back against as he looks to the sky. “Oh yeah, that’s fucking golden!” the man chirps, lifting himself off the sill before walking to the opposite side of the room, listening to the dead eagerly press their teeth together with patience, waiting for the subjects they set their sights upon to emerge from the other end.

“You flew away from home to buy our friends time from the same super dangerous people that you now want us to rob” Jules responds, shaking his head in dissatisfaction as he continues to laugh, “man, I can see why Lou ran off in the first place- you’re living in a fucking fantasy world!” Standing off the bed, Marta stands her ground in confrontation, stepping up to the man’s face and daring him to present her with something better.

“Alright dipshit, you tell me a better plan then!” Marta responds, lashing back at the man with the same attitude he’d given to her since their informal introduction. “You tell me where to get a boat, and- in response- I’ll ask why you haven’t done that yet” the woman continues, met with the silence that Jules presents her with, listening to what she has to say before speaking, “unless we go out and take one for ourselves, the rest of you aren’t getting to that island.”

“Girl, there’s no way we-” Elsie begins to respond, immediately barked at in the same way Jules had found himself moments earlier. “Marta! Marta is my fucking name- use it!” the girl exclaims, watching Elsie throw her hands up in surrender before she can finish speaking. “Fine! Marta, there’s no way we take one of their boats if they’re as dangerous as you’re making them out to be!” the woman shouts back, only furthering riling up the dead that await just outside.

“Then just fuck off already! There’s no point in waiting around in Vancouver for the guys you left behind on the island. Just give up and fuck off!” Marta shouts back, getting in the woman’s face- her nose practically touching that of Elsie’s own as she speaks, “leave Lou behind! Leave Jenn behind again! Leave Lee and Theo behind, and just fuck right off!”

“At this rate, it sounds like the only reasonable option you’re giving us!” Jules shouts back, again re-earning Marta’s attention as her face now gets close to his, her voice keeping the same shouting pitch. “Then fucking take it! Give up on Lou ‘cause you’re not willing to put your life on the line for him, but don’t think for a single-fucking-second that he’d leave you behind!” the woman screams, forcing Jules to fall silent just as the rest of his group does, scolded a new arsehole.

Gasping for each breath amidst the silence, Marta finds herself fuming with anger overwhelming even what Jules had presented her with earlier- disgusted with the response she receives from those Lou had propped up on such a pedestal. “Don’t you think it would’ve served Lou well to just give up on finding you, huh? To just sit down and think ‘fuck off with the rest of them’!?” the girl continues to shout, redirecting her attention from the man across her to each soul she shares the room with.

“He’s literally said- word for word- ‘I’m not trying to get attached’. He’s refused to accept me- or my family, or my friends- because he refuses to give up on you” Marta continues, backing her way up to the door, which she presses her back against as the group watch on, allowing her to continue to shout as the dead beyond her back grow louder and more hostile.

“Think of the things Lou’s done to keep you guys safe- to make sure you stood a fucking chance! Take a good, long fucking look at what he’s done for you” Marta commands, watching the group muster the expressions of disheartened resentment and regret for themselves, “he’d put his life on the line for -any-fucking-one of you if he had to. So- ask yourselves- why the fuck won’t you do the same for him?”

With his head hung, Terry stares at the ground in silence as the rest of the group responds in their own way- Jules peering to the corner of the room whilst Elsie stands in silence and Josie begins slowly walking in circles. “Fuck it, you’ve known the guy for years and I’ve only known him for a couple of weeks, so-” Marta concludes, shrugging her shoulders as her face scrunches, her expression bitter toward the people she’s discovered let her down greatly, “what the fuck do I know anyway?”

Shaking her head, Marta turns her back to the same people she leaves her argument off with, turning her sights toward the door as she wraps her hand around the knob, turning it to let one of the dead in before stabbing it through the eye, closing the entrance as quickly as she’d propped it open. Collapsing to the ground with a visible wound to his socket, the corpse comes to a rest on its stomach as the woman’s blade plunges into its back, ripping its flesh open with a sickening tear.

“How the fuck are we gonna do this then?” Terry finally asks aloud, breaking the silence as all eyes fall upon him, the girl’s following much the same suit as she rips her blade from the monster’s back. “Yeah, are we sneaking up on them or going in guns-blazing?” Josie doubles down, splitting off from the pessimistic ideology the others in her group present to side with their newest comrade.

“Woah, woah woah- are we seriously just jumping head-first into this?” Jules wonders aloud, turning his sights back to those in his group as Marta returns to cutting at the undead ravager, “we’re not gonna consider any other way to get over there?”

“What other way?” Josie responds, stepping past the man to join Marta in her vivisection of the carcass that lays before them, “I agree with you- we’re not just gonna find a boat somewhere.” Yet to fully throw herself into the plan presented, Elsie joins Josie in keeling before the corpse as the men stand behind, watching the argument unfold as the room beside the corpse is occupied.

“Besides, we’re running out of time” Terry replies, joining Josie and Marta in their favour toward the theft plot, “once they realise this girl isn’t who they’re looking for, they’ll go back to the camp and- who knows what happens then?” Running his hand over his head, Jules turns around to face the other end of the relatively-clean studio apartment, his back turned to the man as he crosses his arms.

“Alright, well then how are we actually gonna do this?” Jules wonders back, caving into the pressure as the final piece falls into place. “First, we cover ourselves in this shit and get out of this building unscathed” Marta replies, aiding the girls in prying open the corpse’s back, flooding the room with an undead stench that no amount of attendance can remove from the walls, “we follow the gunshots back to the coast until we find them. When we get there, we do as follows-”

Dropping to a knee between the girls, Jules waits with the rest for Marta to continue speaking as he winces at the stench before him, the rummaging Terry produces through the nearest closet the only other noise to combat the undead. “We take account of the people standing guard. If they’re organised and smart enough, there will at least be some” Marta continues, a look of confidence worn across her face as Terry starts tossing clothes into a pile by the corpse’s side, “-that’s when we strike.”

== RISE and REVOLT ==