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“Unlike you, I didn’t nearly go in the wrong fuckin’ direction” Jules quips back, bickering with the woman behind the wheel whilst crossing his ankles together and leaning against the door. “We made it, didn’t we?” Josie wonders aloud, looking at the man whose eyes take toward her with a self-humoured smile, “yeah, we did. You’re welcome for that” he answers, drawing the ire of the woman who shakes her head with a playful look of irritation.
“Listen you two, argue all you want. I just want to remind you that it’s getting dark and that looks like a campsite” Elsie remarks, pointing at a clearing just beyond the provincial border whilst the peak of a mountain top resides in the vast distance. “I don’t think we should be settling down on a campsite when it’s freezing outside” Adrian responds, pressed against the driver’s side of the backseat whilst following the route they take on the map, “there’s a place that looks like it has some cabins about ten minutes ahead, let’s settle down there.” “Fine by me” Josie responds, pressing further back into her seat whilst the truck’s cabin grows quiet. “Do not bring wood with bark into Alberta” Sebastian mutters aloud, reading the signage that passes behind the duo sitting opposite himself, his girlfriend, and her sister, prompting the lady across from himself to glance back. Watching the sign pass into the distance as they cross the border, Marta lets out a breath that their vehicle travels at speeds too high for it to cloud. “I guess we’re finally crossing the border” she comments aloud with a squint, prompting those across from herself in the truck bed to look toward the direction they leave behind. Lifting her hand up, “goodbye, B.C” Sonya remarks, passing her departing gesture to the province that had once seemed impossible to escape, joining the group in venturing forward into new, uncharted territory. With lowered eyes and offering nothing beyond silence, Lou remains stoic and distant, keeping to himself and dismissing the remarks paid aloud by those around himself, ignoring the world that zips by around himself unless otherwise forced to confront it. With the slowing of the truck as it reaches its destination, the group disembarks one at a time, climbing down from their vehicle and approaching the cabin that resides just beyond the land’s entrance. Placing his arm beneath Ally’s head, Lou’s attempts at bringing the woman in with the group are paused for a moment by the hand that taps his hip. “I know this is hard to hear, but you’re better off leaving her out here” Darnell mutters just loud enough for the stalwart to hear and no one else, “if you’re intent on burying her at the place her parents owned, this will go a long way in making sure she gets there.” Redirecting his passive glance away from the newest member of the group, Lou stares at the cloth wrapped around Ally’s body for a moment before gently pulling his arms away, accepting the advice he’s given. Holding the forearm of the one-armed survivor’s lone-intact limb for support to help the man climb down from the truck bed, Darnell earns an appreciative nod from the visibly-distressed survivor once his feet hit the ground, respect paid from the dubbed ‘silver slayer’ to the man whose presence he tolerates far easier than any of Val’s other group members. “I don’t want to say there any longer than we need to” Jules responds, standing near the front door with his arms crossed as Lou and Darnell enter the building, “let’s get our fucking gas and get the hell out of there, why bother waiting around?” Occupying a cushion-covered bench on his lonesome, “because we’re still around a day and a half away from making it to Ally’s folks’ place, Jules” Terry replies, speaking as if this wasn’t the first time he’d explained the plan and had become tired of doing so. “Man, you could’ve said we were two and a half days away from her folks’ place when we got into the last town! Look at how that turned out for us!” Jules proclaims, his hands held out at either side, “I think I speak for a lot of people here when I say that I don’t want to be taking risks like that again!” “Welcome to the way the world works now!” Terry proclaims, crossing one leg over the other as he leans into the booth, resting one arm over the back of the seat, “keep an eye open in the back of your head because there’s always some greedy motherfucker looking to close in and take all your shit!” “We have enough supplies to make the trip in one go” Elsie remarks, taking a seat on the ground beside one of the wooden support beams to the building, “maybe we stop to fill up the tank once or twice, but we can keep going from here to there without issue.” Rolling his eyes and shaking his head with frustration, Terry reserves his manners at the disagreement he’s found himself on the defensive end of. “There won’t be much to keep ourselves going once we get there” Sebastian takes over, speaking on behalf of the American leader that bows out, too disgruntled to speak without irritation in his tone. “It’s the middle of winter. It should be another three months before we can start planting anything to harvest” the grey-haired voice of reason doubles down, “this place was a vacation home from what Lou and Ally have said. I highly doubt it was stocked well.” “Why start scavenging before we get there? We can settle everyone in at the new camp and use the extra space in the truck to bring back more shit” Sonya replies with a squint, still failing to see the sense in extending the trip. “Because the roads are covered in ice and we have limited supplies to begin with” Terry responds with closed eyes, speaking calmly as he presses his hand against his head to rid of the headache that builds internally, “we don’t want to be stranded on the side of the road for the same reason that we didn’t want to take risks with the tires and get stranded on the tracks in the mountains.” “We’ve been driving all day long. This whole day started in Golden and we’ve finally just crossed into Alberta” Sebastian reiterates, looking around the room for detractors, “I don’t think many of you realise how lucky we are to have covered so much ground in one day without issue.” Tying the string she’d fashioned to the end of her tomahawk to a strap on her bag, Josie pulls her knapsack over a shoulder and prepares to venture further into the building. “You can’t blame us for thinking of this stop as an unnecessary risk” Josie responds, looking toward the man that stands silently near the front of the building. “The last stop we made was supposed to be for supplies, and now we’ve got a dead woman in the back of our truck” the mechanic of the group remarks, unintentionally prompting Lou to close his eyes and lower his head with displeasure as she speaks to the man on the cushioned booth, “we’re not worried for no reason.” “You know what? It doesn’t matter. This is the plan” Jenn interjects, the decisiveness in which she speaks with prompting most eyes to turn toward her, “we got careless in Golden, and that’s why we lost someone. So worry or don’t, but this is what we’re doing.” Squinting, Jules arms fall from their cross as he takes a step forward with his head tilted, “when the hell did you become the leader?” he asks. “Jules, stop” Josie interrupts, trying to stifle the debate before it turns into an argument that the man is perfectly fine with taking part in. “Nah, Josie. I’m actually interested in hearing an answer” Jules responds, holding a hand out to her whilst he addresses the warning. “I’m not even trying to stoke flames, I’m just tired of this back-and-forth bullshit” he confesses, “in L.A, we were all listening to Lou” he says, pointing toward the standing-by, reactionless stalwart. “After the boat went down, we listened to you and Ally” Jules continues, pointing toward the blonde that speaks with declaration, “but ever since we came across the Canadians, it seems like Terry and Sebastian have been making the calls together. So I’m just really confused.” Crossing her arms and remaining in her place, “go ahead and tell me what’s confusing, Jules” Jenn replies, perfectly comfortable with their friendship to allow the confrontation to take shape. “What’s confusing? Alright, I’ll break it down for you” Jules responds, approaching the woman civilly as he presents his question bluntly, “who the fuck is in charge around here?” Letting out a sigh, “Jules-” Terry remarks as he climbs out of his booth, attempting to get between the two sides with a hand reaching out for his friend before the woman’s answer cuts him off. “I am” Jenn responds as bluntly as she was asked, looking the man who begs the inquiry of her straight in the eyes whilst Terry’s confused and surprised expression falls upon her, the woman’s attention paying nothing to it. “If that wasn’t made clear before, I’ll make it clear right now... I’m in charge and it’s my decision to make this stop before we get into camp” she furthers, leaving the rest of the group no room to interrupt, “if it bites us in the ass, you will hold me accountable. If it pays off, you will give me credit.” Pulling his head back and letting his arm fall to his side, Terry stands in silence as the blonde woman’s face turns toward him, her hush soon being redirected to the rest of the group. “Are we all on the same page now?” Jenn wonders aloud, offering up the floor for those with displeasure in the conclusion to speak up, “if not, let me know now or I’ll take your silence as a ‘yes’.” Collectively looking around at the closest survivor to them, the room goes quiet and allows Terry to become the primary focus of the woman in question, the lift in her eyebrows being presented to the friend that she appears to usurp. Clunking across the ground, the boots on Lou’s feet carry him between the woman and the man she succeeds as the group’s shot-caller, his eyes taking to the depths of the building and capturing the attention of those that stand around. “Lou...” Jenn remarks, the call of his name prompting the man to turn around and look at the newly-minted leader with a blank expression, “...do you have anything to add?” Without a change in his expression, Lou’s eyes take to the ground and his lips press together, the sharpened tip of his staff touching down upon the hardwood floor. “I’m not interested in weighing in on this dick-measuring contest” the heartbroken slayer concedes, shrugging as he turns back to venture beyond the building’s lobby, “leave me out of this.” Walking off without letting his dismissiveness falter, Lou vanishes into the hallowed halls of the lodge whilst the rest of the group watches on with their own expressions of doubt. Concerned for the man’s mental state, Jenn lets the casual self-exemption of her friend act as a conclusion to the debate at hand, “everyone start getting settled in. We’ll try to make it out of here at sunrise” she concludes, letting the group disperse wherever they see fit. = RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 = “That’s how they should look, right?” Jules inquires, zipping up his winter coat as he watches the mechanic look toward him with a grin. “Yeah. If I can find winter tires like these for the Silverado, we’ll be in great condition” Josie responds, looking toward the lodge at the set of survivors that emerge from within it, “did blondie kick you out already?” she jokes. “No, we’ll be back in four or five minutes” Sebastian responds, earning an amused look of reservation in the playful expressions of those that he and Courtney pass by. “You really couldn’t find anywhere private in that place to do the deed?” Josie challenges, sparking a moment of laughter between all four parties. “That’s the part that intrigues you and not the part about him only expecting to go four or five minutes?” Jules doubles down, again providing humour to the lot. “We’re not sneaking off to fuck, mind your P’s and Q’s, you perverts!” Sebastian quips back, watching Jules smile whilst Josie sarcastically flips him off, leaving the couple to carry on away from the apparent pathway and into the nearby field. “I know the cabin doesn’t have electricity, but it’s still warmer in there than it is out here” Courtney remarks after a few minutes of walking, the snow that piles upon the ground allowing her boots to sink almost entirely into the wintery mixture with each step. “I wanted to show you the mountain, what’s wrong with that?” Sebastian questions aloud with a smile, watching the woman’s breaths cloud the air with her quiet laughter. “I can see the mountain from the lodge, you fool” Courtney jokes, shaking her head from one side to the other with a grin, her hand carried within the grasp of the man’s own. “My boots are gonna be filled up with snow by the time we get back” Courtney jokes, surrounded by a tranquillity that comes over the world as a result of tragedy, and choosing to take the little moments of joy from it as opposed to the horrors. “It’ll be worth it. At least, I hope it will be” Sebastian assures, watching the woman continue to step forward as she rolls her eyes, bobbing her head from side to side, whilst she continues to walk, doing so for a few further steps before realising her boyfriend had yet to continue along. “Oh, come on! You couldn’t have gotten tired out that-” Courtney turns around with her light-hearted visage intact, watching the man press the sole of one boot into the snow whilst his other knee bends into one of the prints her own shoes had left behind. “I’m sorry if it doesn’t fit, if it’s not your style, and-slash-or if it seems like it’s taken a while” Sebastian replies, holding a hand up with a simple ring pressed between his fingers, “since it’s freezing out here, I’ll just get to the point... Will you marry me?” | Shaking his head with displeasure, Darnell lets out a sigh as he kneels beside a machine, hiding away in the depths of the lodge as a woman stands in the doorway. “Do you know how to work that thing?” Jenn wonders aloud, surprising the man that hurriedly looks over his shoulder with a gasp, his head falling whilst his reaction incites a chuckle from the newly-proclaimed leader of the group. “A little bit of warning next time would be great” Darnell remarks as he drops from his knee, taking a seat on the ground whilst the leader covers her face, trying to muffle her laughter so as not to come across disrespectful. Unable to prevent himself from finding amusement in the interaction, the man bows his head and laughs to himself before gazing at the machine, “I have no idea what I’m doing, but it looks a lot less like an intact generator than I’ve ever seen” he confesses, “I’m not an expert, but I’m willing to bet it’s not worth wasting fuel on.” “That’s alright. I can get Josie in here to see what’s wrong if I need to” Jenn assures, climbing down into the shed-like corner of the building, staring at the machine the survivor’s flashlight sheds illumination upon. “I wasn’t even really interested in the machine to begin with. We’ve got blankets and a fireplace, I’m sure we’ll be fine” the woman remarks, redirecting the conversation as the man climbs to his feet, “truthfully, I was just looking around for you.” “Really?” Darnell inquires, taking this comment by surprise, looking away from the woman for a moment with a shrug, “I’m not sure what I did, but I’m sorry if I overstepped boundaries, or-” Shaking her head, “no, no, no... you’re not in trouble” Jenn corrects, almost laughing at the insinuation whilst the man across from her takes relief in her insistence, “I just wanted to thank you for keeping an eye on Lou last night. You’ve been the only person that Ally brought along with her that I don’t mind, and I wanted to make sure you knew that I appreciated that.” “Oh. Well, thank you. I try not to be a burden” Darnell replies, nodding with shoulders of lesser-weight than they’d carried upon his first inclination, “you seem like good people. It’d be foolish to take having good company around during times like these for granted.” Nodding along with a pouting bottom lip, “I’m glad we see eye-to-eye on that then” Jenn assures, taking a step away from the tucked-away side of the lodge without anything to add, “we leave at sunrise.” “I’ll be ready” Darnell assures, watching the woman’s visibly-pleased expression carry itself through the door and back to the group at large. Keeping to himself, the survivor’s face lights up with a grin of self-gratification as he’s left to his lonesome once more, feeling vindicated in the choice he’d made to stay behind at Val’s camp when all others had departed. | “I don’t care who’s the leader as long as we’re not all steered into bunches of zombies and death” Sonya replies, digging her hand into a box of stale cereal, eating whatever she can find. “Are you bothered by it, Terry?” Elsie wonders aloud, asking the question that sits on the small group’s mind whilst no one speaks up to present it. “No, but I would’ve appreciated a little head’s up” the replaced-leader confesses, “I stuck my neck out for this group at times. It’d have been nice to at least be told I was getting replaced without it becoming this public spectacle.” “In her defence, I don’t think Jenn was really intending to just come out with it as bluntly as she had” Sonya admits, turning her sights to the man that stands with crossed arms beside them, “but Jules forced her hand and she answered what he asked.” Squinting as his head pulls back, “are you trying to say it’s my fault that Terry got replaced?” Jules wonders aloud, pressing his hand against his own chest. “I’m not saying it’s anyone’s fault. I’m not even saying it’s the fault of anyone...” Sonya replies with a shrug, “I’m just saying Jenn making herself the leader would’ve probably gone over a lot smoother had you not come out and just asked her to say so point-blank.” Looking toward Terry, “listen, man. I really don’t mean to offend you, but it’s not that big of a deal” Elsie cuts in, her eyes being met by the former leader’s own, “I don’t care who’s calling the shots and it really doesn’t matter. If they make a bad call and everyone sees it, there’s no forcing us into one thing or another.” “I don’t care if I’m the leader or not. I stepped up and took the job when no one else would, it’s not gonna make or break me” Terry responds, resting back in his seat with hands raised in solidarity with the call, “I just would’ve liked this ‘torch-exchanging’- or whatever we’re gonna call it- to be less embarrassing.” “She’s making a bad call right now- that’s the thing!” Jules interjects, returning to the woman’s prior point, “we’re all on edge after what happened to Ally. Stopping somewhere for longer than we need to isn’t the best call to make right now.” Clicking his tongue, “man, I made that call. Remember, Sebastian and I were still calling the shots when we made that decision” Terry responds with his eyes on the man, “and listen, Jenn put it the right way. Ally’s dead because we got careless.” “You say that like we’ve never lost anyone when we were careful” Elsie retorts, finding immediate rebuttal within the face of the man in question. “Maybe you have, but we haven’t” Terry corrects, finally offering a point that Jules silently bobs his head in agreement to, “Wyatt died trying to close off our old high school from the zombies, Vinny died because we failed to keep the zombies back for long enough, Margo died because we weren’t prepared on the first day that all this shit hit the fan.” “Halston died because we were careless and got split up, Ally died because we let our guard down thinking we were safe” Jules doubles down, adding to the point that his friend points at with a nod. “We lose people when we get stupid. And whether you like it or not, we’re gonna have to get over what happened to Ally at some point” Terry reiterates, speaking whilst the two women lower their eyes in thought at the warning that’s being levied at them, “we can’t live our lives in fear. We need these supplies and we have to stop for them.” “Alright, let me ask you this then... What if it bit you in the ass?” Jules questions aloud, letting the agreement with his friend subside into genuine intrigue. “Explain” Terry remarks, opening the floor for the man opposed to his plan to offer emphasis. “If you were still the leader and had that ‘praise me if I’m right, hold me accountable if I’m wrong’ thing that Jenn was talking about” the questionnaire wonders, “what would you suggest happens if we lost someone else making this stop?” “I’d tell you to let someone else make the decisions” Terry answers with ease, shrugging his shoulders as if there were no other answer. “And let who make the calls? We’ve been working on a case-by-case basis on who calls the shots ever since we got back together with Lou” Jules replies, pointing out the weakness in their pecking order, “the one guy I think most of us would just naturally follow the lead of is the one guy that I’d rather have anyone else over right now.” “Come on, Jules” Terry responds with a slight defeat in his voice, the tilt of his head carrying itself to his non-dominant shoulder. “I’m serious, T. Lou’s like a brother to me, but I’m not gonna sit around and pretend like he’s not scaring the fuck out of me right now” Jules confesses honestly, pointing in the direction they’d last watched the one-armed survivor traipse, “she deserved it, don’t get me wrong, but he just straight up murdered that woman without a care in the world.” “That’s nothing I wouldn’t think he’s capable of” Terry replies honestly, watching the man across from him take a turn at looking toward his pal with disbelief. “Lou’s never killed someone like that. He killed that woman like he enjoyed it” Jules replies, still letting his finger take aim in the direction of the sombre, mourning man that’s used the day to turn into a recluse. “His girlfriend died in his arms and he’s gonna be blaming himself for as long as it takes him to get better... But he is going to get better” Terry assures, climbing out of his chair whilst gently ushering his friend’s pointed digit down, “as for the rest of things, it’s all pretty plain and simple. Jenn makes the calls now, we let her lead until she gives us a reason not to, and we’re making this stop tomorrow morning... Paranoia be damned.” Letting his eyes fall as quickly as his head does, Jules sits with the decision for a moment before coming to terms with the call, nodding in agreement before feeling Terry’s hand pat him on the shoulder. Moving on with his night, the unplanned-predecessor to Jenn leaves behind the discussion just as the two women are prepared to. “We’ve got no choice at this point, but I’m still gonna tell you this now...” Jules concedes, watching both women look up at him as he prepares to follow the former leader’s lead in walking off, “...I have a bad feeling about tomorrow.” | “Which one of you is it?” Lou wonders aloud, hearing his door open and unsure of who the figure responsible for knocking at his tiny room’s entrance is. “It’s Marta” the girl answers, flashing her light into the room to find the man resting in the corner of the wall, his eyes staring blankly at the wall across from him as he lays on his side. “Okay” he answers passively, hearing averting his emotionless stare from the plain, white drywall opposite himself. “If the clock in the Silverado is right, that means today is New Year’s Eve” Marta remarks in a tone of voice that appears pleasant to the ear of the man she pays a visit to. “Okay” the man replies, tucking his arm beneath his head whilst his dry blood-covered rebar staff lays beside his body, “thanks for letting me know.” Visibly dissatisfied with the careless and dismissive reflection within her mentor’s voice, Marta’s eyes fall as she closes the room’s door behind herself, lowering herself to a seat on the floor to the survivor’s displeasure. “I walked back here so I could be left alone, Marta” Lou confesses, a conclusion the woman had already come to long before choosing to drop in on him, the way in which she ignores the man’s concern matching the passive nature of his own replies to her. “I’m sorry about what happened to Ally” Marta admits, the light that she shines toward the ceiling earning her a sight of the silent sigh that her mentor exhales as he closes his eyes, perturbed at the reignited conversation. “Marta, I’d really rather not-” Lou warns, his voice calm and deep, though the exhaustion that’s carried in it is harder to recognise, but easy for the visitor to speak over and ignore. “I don’t care what the rest of the group thinks. I don’t care what decisions they make amongst themselves. As far as I’m concerned, the only real leader of this group is you” Marta states, watching the man’s blank stare renew itself as his eyelids pull apart. “You’re the reason our groups are together, you’re the reason we made it off of Vancouver Island, you’re the reason I’m not afraid of what the world looks like outside of a cabin in the mountains” she doubles down, “I’m sorry about what happened and I know it’ll take time for you to grieve, but I need to know that you’ll eventually be in a state of mind that doesn’t leave me worrying about you like I am now.” “I already told you how this was going to work, Marta” Lou responds, continuing to wear his despondent and defeated reflection like a mirror catching the glimpse of a pair of headlights in his tone. “We were in that house planning out how we were going attack that old bitch when I told you that-” he continues to speak, doing so as he pushes himself up to a cross-legged seat on the floor. “That you would never forgive yourself... I know” Marta finishes his thought instead, allowing the man to accept her continuation and move on with forming the rest of his own. “I’m sorry if you feel the need to be worried about me until I start smiling and skipping like a retarded-fucking leprechaun, because you will never stop worrying if you’re expecting what happened to not take its toll on me” Lou remarks, grabbing his rebar skewer and sitting it on his lap. “Lou, you’re the same person that I met in that cabin. You have a massive memory that will haunt you for a very long time, but it does not change who you are” Marta responds, watching the man’s chin dip as he sucks in a quick, verbal breath of pause, trying to preserve his composure. “You are the closest thing that I have to a role model, and I refuse to believe that person is someone that’s just dead and-” “He’s gone, Marta” Lou interrupts, bringing on a silence too strong for either soul to ignore or speak over. “I love a woman to such an extent that I followed her across a whole fucking country. She is everything to me... and now she’s dead” he restates, flaring his nostrils as he stares straight into the woman’s eyes, “I don’t care how reasonable you think it was, but had I just let that dirty old bitch kill me... Ally would still be alive.” “Don’t just carry this thought that you should’ve been a martyr and everything-” Marta responds, shaking her head as tears threaten to fall from her eyes. “Ally would still be alive” Lou interjects, refusing to believe anything less than what he knows to be the truth as far as he was told, “if I had to die to save her life, so be it. The point is that I could’ve saved her and I failed. I don’t care if I didn’t pull the trigger, I got her killed. Do you understand that, Marta? I got her-” “You’re still alive” Marta interrupts, matching the lead of her mentor in bringing on a palpable hush that neither can bring themselves to speak over for a few seconds. “She’s dead, you’re not, now stop trying to play revisionist history” the woman reiterates with as cold and unpleasant of a calm tone as the frost of the winter chill beyond the room’s windows, matching the heat-lacking demeanour she’d been paid by the man, “this is the world we’re in and the shit we’re dealt. If you want to live with anything on your conscience... Live with that on it.” Immediately swallowing a wad of spit in the mouth that her uncharacteristically callous response prompts to dry, Marta looks at the pain in the man’s face as his stare remains unwavering in its placement upon her. Though she deeply regrets saying what she had in the moment directly after doing so, the girl’s persistent hush is kept intact to preserve the declaration in which she’d spoken with. “If I were you, I’d strongly suggest you find better role models than me” Lou replies with less harshness carried in his reflection, picking up his rebar staff and marching around the woman. “Happy new year’s, Marta” he coldly remarks, opening the door and slamming it shut behind himself without so much as another syllable uttered, leaving his protege teary-eyed in the dark room as he walks away. Wiping the tear from her eye, “happy new year’s, Lou” Marta whispers to herself with a deep exhale, shaking her head with displeasure as she looks to the ground, feeling like she’d prompted more regression in the man’s state than progress as she’d entered with the hopes of. == RISE and REVOLT ==
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Season 6 Premiere
“Go! Just go! Come on!” Jenn mutters in a powerless sigh, pulling the Golden sisters off the ground just as she climbs up, leading them to the door whilst their collective eyes remain glued to the image of sorrow within Lou’s arms. “Where the hell did she go!? She was supposed to be standing guard!” Elsie calls out angrily, peering her head through the doorway, looking for the woman who Ally had first cut free to find an absence of the survivor whom they’d depended on for cover. “Lou, we’ve-” Sebastian attempts to interject, feeling the weight of Jenn’s hand press against his side and prevent him from talking. “Leave him, he’ll catch up” the blonde woman remarks, looking the Canadian leader in the eyes as she makes her declaration, the man’s view eventually falling back upon the one-armed stalwart in ways that the woman’s cannot bear matching. Succumbing to the order placed upon him, Sebastian pulls back, retreating to the side of the siblings whilst the rest of the group begins shuffling through the door at the blonde woman’s behest. “You too. Come on” Jenn quips, pulling her hand toward the man that stands with the weapon used to put Don down, finding reluctance in her gesture. “He’s gonna need someone to keep an eye on that door” Darnell replies, letting the barrel of his rifle point toward the ground. Without responding, Jenn passes a glance toward the survivors that push themselves to carry on with their escape before swallowing her pride and letting out a tearful gasp of air as she stares back at the grieving survivor on the floor. Saying nothing, the blonde turns her back to the sight of tragedy and follows her peers through the door, leaving the scene of her heartbroken friend and his slain love in favour of leading the charge. “Let’s go” Jenn murmurs, wiping tears from her eyes as the streaks that they leave down the sides of her face begin feeling the kiss of a chill that comes through the frigid air. “Hold on, what are we gonna do about-?” Josie questions, parting with the rest of the group as the woman who’d led them away from the home walks through, teary-eyed and dismissive of what she leaves behind. “We’ll come back for them in the morning” Jenn dismisses, not leaving the survivor that questions her an opportunity to finish her thought as she answers, “let’s just go.” Holding back her emotions as she reaches the front of the group, clenching her teeth and surveying the area that the survivors now journey through at the height of escalation, the woman marches through the devastated little British Columbia town with Sebastian to her right, wanting nothing more than to do away with the night. = RISE and REVOLT is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series from Season 1 onwards belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 = “Are you sure we’re not gonna regret running the heat all this time?” Marta questions, looking at the man in the driver’s seat with lifted eyebrows. “We’ll be able to syphon more from the station on our way out” Jules reassures, reclining in his seat and closing his eyes as he takes the lack of hurry in the woman’s voice to insist that they lack enough immediate danger for a few moments of sleep to be welcomed. “It’s gotta be less than ten degrees out. You don’t really want to go without heat in that, do you?” Terry questions from the backseat, leaning against the door whilst staring through the window in the back of the cab. “Ten degrees is a lot different for me than it is for you” Marta answers honestly, peering behind her chair to the man that rolls his eyes. “It’s really fucking cold out. Do you want heat or not?” the man proceeds to reiterate, only earning a smile from the woman that quietly settles back into her seat. Taking the persistent hush as an answer, Terry settles into his seat, crossing his arms and resting the heel of his boot on the very end of the Silverado’s centre console as a voice from the front of the truck prompts his mind to keep from preoccupation. “What are we supposed to do when we get to this camp?” Jules questions aloud, unable to see the set of eyes that fall upon him from behind the lids of his own. “What does that mean, Jules?” Terry questions back with little reservation, finding the inquiry too odd to answer without further elaboration. “Like, are we supposed to just be alive? Pick fruits and shit? Have picnics and paint houses?” the tired survivor behind the wheel inquires, “what are we supposed to do when we get to Ally’s folks’?” “We’ll start farming and shit, Jules. What do you think we’re gonna do?” Terry answers back with a squint, confused at the way in which the question is framed. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking you” Jules replies, letting his eyes open as his head turns to look over his shoulder, “I don’t know how to farm. Shit, I don’t know if I’ll even be able to go back to what life used to be after all this.” “Why not?” Marta queries, watching the man glance at her for a moment before letting out a chuckle, “I’m serious. Why wouldn’t you?” Too amused to answer honestly, the man behind the steering wheel lets his friend in the backseat take the reins on answering. “Because we survived the Titanic for fuck’s sake” Terry laughs, sharing it with Jules before regaining a more serious demeanour as the light-heartedness dies down. “Look, no offence Marta, you just haven’t been through what we’ve been through” Terry replies, watching the woman turn back in her seat to look at him, “fuck, we’re not even in the same country we were in when this mess started up. It’s taken a long time to get here.” Refusing to take discouragement from what she’s told, the passenger seat-residing young woman looks through the window and stares into the Canadian night, her mind wandering in ways where she cannot. “I don’t know if I’m built for that kind of task, man” Jules mutters aloud, speaking through the silence that the car had become saddled with for a few seconds, though each of them felt like minutes, “making a new, old world seems impossible now.” Shaking her head with a grin, Marta catches the now-open eyes of the man behind the wheel, his face turning toward her with interest, “you disagree, Female Lou?” “Haha... Female Lou...” Terry repeats, still amused by the moniker that all three survivors take momentary amusement in, “...the Silver Slayer-ette” he quips further, dragging more laughter from the group. “Yes, I disagree” the young woman answers with a smile, nodding in agreement with the statement made prior to the new nickname, “I mean, we’ve gotta accept that mindlessly driving around and killing zombies is beneath us, right?” “Ahhh, maybe” Terry groans as a sigh leaves his lungs, humour still supported through the grin on his visage, “I don’t know... Rebuilding the world seems like a tall task.” Hearing this point, Marta lets the pleasure on her expression remain intact as she looks over her shoulder, agreeing with the point, “it is” she answers, shrugging as she looks toward Jules and passes her glance back to the man behind her, “what else are we alive for, though?” Looking to the survivor whilst the man behind the wheel tilts his head to one side and stares down the residential street his headlights shine down, Terry retains his smile and lowers his eyes, letting the question sit on his mind as Marta settles back into her seat. Pleased with the point she makes, the passenger seat-occupying survivor silently lets her mind wander elsewhere whilst the man behind her sits with her inquiry ringing through his head, pulling his eyes upward to the heavens beyond the cabin’s back window in self-reflection. | Letting the cold air of the winter night slip into the home, the open door to the first couple of Golden’s home remains the apple to Darnell’s eye, his attention refusing to slip away from the entrance he’s stayed behind to guard. Having waited hours, the rifle-wielding survivor passes glances back at the man with his deceased lover held close for only a few seconds at a time. Hanging low enough for the centre of his lips to part with the smallest separation, Lou sits on the ground with the nub of his shortened arm resting on Ally’s forehead, his opposite hand holding the back of his head whilst his arm holds her close. Having allowed nearly two hours to pass whilst he stands guard, Darnell remains uninterested in hurrying the man he’d been trusted to look after, allowing the grief to take its time at whatever pace it will. “It should’ve been me” Lou suddenly murmurs, his face still flooded with tears as the man a short distance away looks to him with surprise, having gone since the woman’s death without hearing the man speak. Needing a moment to get over the initial shock of hearing the man’s voice, Darnell shakes his head in refusal at the notion, “what do you mean?” he asks, unsure. “The lady... She wanted me to turn myself in...” Lou replies, speaking to the man whilst his every other attention is spent upon the woman in his arms, the eyelids he’d closed leaving her expression to appear far more peaceful than he’d remembered it being at the end of her life. “...It should have been me.” Though he’d essentially been allowed to partake in the moment through the grieving survivor’s remark, Darnell’s eyes avert to the door instinctually, feeling uneasy about the idea of responding and assuming that his input is unnecessary. “I did this to her” Lou whimpers, his face flushing with emotion as his hand trembles behind her head, the rattle of it doing nothing to remove the oddly-peaceful look that presents itself in the woman’s face. Though he doesn’t feel as comfortable responding to the man as he does standing guard for him, the odd man out from the group fights the urge to reply nonetheless, feeling sorry for the self-defeat that’s spoken through the man’s comments. Shaking his head from one side to the other, Darnell refuses to buy into the line of thought that’s being spoken, feeling his strength to not get involved with the man’s grief slip with each passing second of renewed silence. “You’re the only one that didn’t do this to her” the man replies, watching the eyelids of the survivor narrow whilst his head lacks the strength to sway from one side to the other in refusal. “You came back. You and the others could’ve taken off, but you didn’t. You risked your lives to come back and get us out of here” Darnell doubles down, stopping the moment he watches the man’s eyes lift toward him. “I didn’t get her out of here, did I?” Lou questions back, his face shaping with anger at himself, only to find reluctance in falling to such a belief in the face of the man across the room. Going quiet for a moment with an apologetic look on his face, “But you got everyone else out” Darnell replies, watching a deep breath leave through the survivor’s nose as his head hangs back toward the woman in his arms, “the rest of you staying behind is why more people didn’t die.” “When the old man came aro-” Lou rebuttals, attempting to retort the man’s point before falling silent, his eyes again flooding with tears as he stops himself, his face tensing up with sorrow before he fights to overcome it, “you kept him from killing the others.” Shaking his head in refusal, Darnell refuses the praise that he’s given as he looks toward the door, maintaining his promise to look after the man in his moment of horror. For a few seconds, the gunman looks at the corpse he’d been responsible for putting down whilst the chill in the air remains present, gradually getting worse the further night runs into the earliest hours of morning. “Thank you for that” Lou mutters, watching the newest of his acquaintances glance back at him without reacting, needing a moment at first to process the remark before giving the one-armed slayer a nod, letting the gesture serve the purpose of a response before tending back to his lookout duties. | “I just don’t know that we can keep doing it for much longer” Jules responds, reclining in his seat as the heat continues to run over him, the minutes that pass beyond midnight affording the patient survivors below a chance to witness snowfall once more. “They can’t be that bad, bro” Terry replies, tapping his knee rhythmically every three seconds as the conversation goes back and forth. “I’m telling you, that track is tearing up these tires” Jules restates, vehement in his conclusion whilst the woman seated beside him carries on with watching over the discussion, “if we keep driving on those things for much longer, the things are gonna rip and we ain’t making it farther without the rubber.” “The fucker may be beaten to shit, but we’ve still got the Wrangler” Terry replies with a shrug, hearing laughter quip from the seat ahead of him, “if we tear up a tire, we’ll just pack into that for the rest of the way.” Pulling his seat up, “have you been watching what we were driving through? We spent a whole day driving through nothing!” Jules proclaims, looking back at his friend, “we can’t all fit in the Wrangler! Do you really wanna be stranded in the middle of nowhere!?” “Then we’ll talk about taking the roads out to-” Terry replies with a shrug, interrupting himself with a glance through the cabin’s back window, finding a pair of lanterns shining in the distance. “Oh fuck, we’ve got company!” Jules calls out, arming himself just as the rest of his group does, climbing out from the vehicle and finding it impossible to speak into the distance before their visitors interrupt. “It’s us, don’t shoot!” Jenn calls out, holding her light up to display her face and the second hand that she lifts into the sky. “Oh thank god! We were starting to think you weren’t ever gonna show!” Terry proclaims, still halfway inside the truck he attempts to pile back into with relief, “hurry up, let’s get moving!” “Lou and Darnell are still back there, we’re not going anywhere until they’re back” Jenn calls out, confusing those that remain gathered around the Silverado, staring out at the group that becomes more visible both the closer they march and the longer their eyes adjust to the night. “What the fuck are they hanging back for!?” Jules calls out, yet to follow his friend’s lead of herding back into the truck, joining Marta in approaching the returning survivors whilst Terry follows. “Everyone just get in the truck and keep warm, alright?” Sebastian directs calmly, pressing his lips to Courtney’s head as she and her dejected sister walk past the trio that had stayed behind, their low spirits leaving worry to take shape in the uninformed group. Not answering her friend’s question at first, Jenn pulls away from the grouping that she’d led away from the horrors of the quiet town in favour of addressing those fortunate enough to not get caught privately. “What happened?” Marta asks softly, watching her father approach with a hand out, placing it on her shoulder and wrapping his arms around her for a hug. “Jenn’s gonna tell you guys” Adrian replies, kissing the girl on the head before passing on, allowing his daughter to continue on with those that the returning, blonde survivor closes in on. Letting out a deep sigh as her eyelids press together, the blonde, march-leading woman presents her sorrow-filled expression to Jules and Marta, the survivors catching onto the dread only a few moments before Terry does. “Jenn?” the man asks, just over a minute removed from complaining about the state of their tires, “what’s going on?” Clouding the air as it leaves her parted lips, Jenn’s breath flows upward just as her eyes do, the moisture that lingers on the lids that pull apart to reveal them making it clear that not all is as well as they’d have hoped for their departure to go. “Guys...” the woman begins, her lower jaw trembling as her bottom lip quivers, touched by the chill of the moment more so than the crisp air, sniffling as she’s brought to the verge of tears again, looking to those that stand before her. “Give her a second” Sebastian interjects, watching Terry open his mouth to speak, thwarting it in an effort to keep the air free for the blonde to speak. Quickly gasping as her core trembles with deep grief, Jenn swats at her eyes to wipe the wet streaks from her face, “Lou got to the house and cut us free, but...” she attempts to speak, being kept from divulging the news cleanly through the emotions that bubble up to the surface, “...the old dude who’d kept us down in the basement came around with a rifle and-” “Is Lou okay?” Marta interrupts, unable to help herself from breaking into the moment, feeling the weight of the woman’s confession as the blonde looks toward her, nodding in approval without saying so at first. Her dry locks of hair grazing against her skin, Jenn gives the Simard daughter her assurance briefly before looking back to those she’d escaped Los Angeles alongside, her head tilting to one side as her face scrunches. “Ally got shot...” she admits, speaking to those who’d assumed something had happened to Lou just as Marta had, their faces turning from worry to dread upon their friend’s continuance. “No, Jenn. Don’t say it” Terry responds with a whisper, shaking his head in refusal whilst the woman’s head bobs up and down. Watching the American side’s leader avert his eyes and turn away in disbelief, Jenn breaks into a full on sob as she finishes what she’d set her mind to see through, “...she didn’t make it.” Stepping forward with his bottom lip folding downward, Jules wraps his arms around the woman and pulls her close, his eyes closing as he presses his chin into the woman’s neck, her head burying itself into his chest. “Where are they?” Marta wonders aloud, looking toward the woman seeking comfort in her friend’s embrace before hearing the voice of the man on her own side. “It’s on ninth street. There’s a white house with a blue railing that wraps around the patio out front. It’s above a carpark and next to a brown house with a big bushel of shrubs in front of it” Sebastian answers, watching the woman shrug as she steps forward. “Be careful” the Canadian leader warns, taking the young woman by the arm to prevent her from walking off without a warning, “that place might start crawling with zombies any minute now.” Believing his point had been made clear, Sebastian lets the young woman free and watches as she walks off, leaving the rest of the group that stands by to watch her walk off. “Where are you going!?” Terry calls out, watching the woman turn around quickly to respond, “I’ll be back! Stay here!” she calls out, uninterested in hanging around for much longer. Hurrying away, Marta walks back into the confines of the small town whilst her American acquaintances grieve, having reunited with sanctuary at last, even if only for a short amount of time. | “I don’t think I can handle watching her turn” Lou confesses with a whimper, his eyes having dried and run low on tears long ago, his back pressing against the concrete support pillar that keeps the foundation upright. Low in his spirits, Darnell watches the grass just beyond the carpark become coated with snow as the wintery mix continues falling. “At the same time, I can’t stomach putting a bullet-” Lou continues, unable to continue speaking without his face bunching up, eyelids pressing together to squeeze out tears that his ducts can no longer manage to spill out. “Listen, I know it doesn’t help... But if I had an icepick, I’d know how to kill the brain without...” Darnell remarks, watching the man’s tear-covered face look up at him without a word, nothing less than the greatest expression of misery one can bear, “...she’ll look just like this, is what I’m trying to say.” Breathing heavy, Lou’s chest heaves as he softly grazes the sides of the girl’s face with his thumb, put into alert the second he and the man keeping him company overhear hurried steps drawing nearer to them from the distance. “Oh, it’s you” Darnell remarks as he steps through the entrance with his rifle in tow, moving aside and lowering the barrel as the survivor approaches. Wiping the snow from her hair as she steps into the basement, Marta watches Darnell step aside to reveal the scene that she’d known would befall her upon pulling away from her group. “Ohhh” the girl sighs as her eyes fall upon Ally’s body, dry blood staining the arm that wraps around her, holding her close to the man that sits in defeat with exhaustion of anguish written all over his face. Not responding, Lou looks up at the woman that approaches, watching her each forward step come with great reservation and pause, returning his eyes to the peaceful expression on Ally’s face as his visitor kneels in the pool of now-dry blood. “It happened so fast” the grieving man whimpers, continuing to press his hand upon the side of the woman’s face, recognising how cold it has become with each stroke of his thumb. “Jenn said someone came around the corner and opened fire” Marta responds, shaking her head as her hand rests gently upon the lifeless woman’s body. “Christina was supposed to be keeping a lookout” Darnell murmurs from aside, prompting the apologetic survivor to look toward him, finding a visible irritation bubbling from deep within the lone remaining member from Val’s group, “I don’t know where the hell she ran off to.” “It doesn’t matter” Lou replies, re-earning his friend’s attention whilst keeping his eyes glued to the at-peace expression on his lost love’s face, his head swaying from one side to the other with declination. “I already told you what would happen if this happened, Marta...” the stalwart confesses, a new tear finally squeezing itself free from the lid of his right eye, sliding down his face and dropping from his chin, “...I’ll never live this down.” Lifting her eyes from the body to the man that holds it so softly and comfortably against himself, Marta lets the corners of her mouth shift into a frown as her hand gently rests on the man’s shoulder. “I know, Lou” she confesses, refusing to fight the man on what he doesn’t wish to be confronted with, his mind purposefully intending to remain unswayed. | “I’m not suggesting we hurry this along, but I think we should all remember that this place is about to be littered with the dead” Adrian remarks, his arms crossed and lower back resting against the hood of the Silverado. “Adrian’s right. We need to have an answer to this now” Josie replies, sitting on the rolled-down window of the driver’s seat with half of her body residing inside and the other half dangling from the door, her right side pressing against the vehicle. “We can’t keep following the tracks without running the risk of the tires blowing” Jules responds, his voice carrying defeat and the whites of his eyes having gone a faint, pink colour, “if we get stranded up in those mountains, we’re goners.” Going quiet, those opposed to the proposition find themselves incapable of arguing against the points made against them, both Courtney and Sebastian joining Elsie and Jenn in defeatedly looking toward the sky or ground in the name of finding a solution. “Does he really need to explain any reason more than why continuing onto Calgary would be a bad idea?” Adrian inquires, looking to those opposed with an eyebrow lifted, “do you really want to be the group that ends their run in a zombie apocalypse dying from hypothermia?” Lifting his hands, Sebastian presents his palms to Marta’s father and concedes, “alright, we can take ninety-five southbound. You win” the Canadian side’s leader replies. Nodding in agreement, Courtney accepts her boyfriend’s change of mind and prompts the remaining opponents to admit defeat, both Elsie and Jenn nodding without a word to switch their allegiances. “They’re back” Sonya remarks, standing near the passenger’s door and glancing backward to find a set of three drawing in. “Hold on, I know we’re going south... But to where?” Josie inquires, watching the man she prepares to take over driving for that step past with a shrug. “Just keep going until we find something. Maybe it takes us over the border, maybe it doesn’t. Who knows?” Jules responds, looking toward the direction of the tracks with sorrow still carried through his eyes, “it’s better than getting stuck in the mountains, no?” Joining the rest of the group, the survivors approach those that return, the entire night having elapsed to leave the man that draws nearer with his lover’s body in his arms with the start of a sunrise coming over in the horizon just to his side. “Listen, I’m just gonna say this now so we don’t run into any-” Josie attempts to speak from the back of the group, only for her warning to be kept from finishing. “Darnell already handled it. She’s not coming back” Marta responds, carrying her dear friend’s rebar staff in hand as she gestures to the man that trails just behind them, a rifle kept carried in his hands whilst the handle of an icepick pokes out from his pocket. “Lou, I know you wanted us to go to Calgary, but the tires just can’t handle the train tracks any-” Jenn attempts to remark, looking to switch the conversation before finding the man’s eyes rising to her. “I don’t care, let’s just get going” Lou concedes with a sigh, shaking his head as the pair lock eyes with one another, their sympathies exchanged silently. Stepping forward, the blonde places her hand on the grieving stalwart’s shoulder, his eyes filling with emotion that tears just can’t bring themselves to cloud anymore than they already have. Pressing his lips together, Lou breathes heavily as he leans his head toward one side, “does it ever get better?” he whispers with a squint, pain clearly concealed well within the voice he keeps purposefully low. Disheartened, Jenn lowers her eyes to the soft visage on the body in her friend’s arms, a slow sigh of relief exiting through her lips as the slightest sense of solace comes over her. “Almost” she confesses, looking back into the man’s eyes, watching him accept the answer with a nod before walking forward with his head low, climbing into the bed of the truck as the blonde looks toward Josie. “Just start heading toward the border. We’ll stop if we find something we like, keep going if we don’t. Alright?” Jenn questions aloud, watching the driver press two fingers to her forehead and salute the woman that gives her the order. Glancing to her side, she looks toward the man that had kept a close eye out for her friends, “thanks for having our back” she remarks, watching Darnell smile at her and continue loading himself back into the truck, ready to join them in the road that lies ahead. Refuelled and slowly using the highway’s breakdown lane to complete their journey, the truck that Josie drives passes a litany of abandoned vehicles all gathered together in what had once been bumper-to-bumper traffic, but now resides as a testament to the bustle of a world no longer within reach. Scattered throughout the remains of the vehicles, the undead aimlessly wander in search of their next meal, the chill in the air leaving them to notice the group passing by the side of the road without any hope of reaching it. “Oh shit” Jules whispers, pulling up in the passenger’s seat as Josie gently brings the vehicle and its weakened tires to a stop, prompting those that pepper its every inch to take notice of the sight that’s stumbled upon. “Well well well...” Terry mutters to himself, following the lead of Darnell in climbing out from the backseat, finding the man on the opposite side of the vehicle from him taking aim with his rifle. Rolling his eyes at the point of the stop and assuming it to be for a straggler in the way, Lou follows Sebastian’s lead in climbing up in the truck bed and looking out, his eyes widening with fixation as the rifle fires off. Screaming in pain thirty yards ahead, a woman hits the ground with the force of the gunshot, clutching at the wound on her hip from where the bullet had ripped through. “What!? What’s going on!?” Marta calls out, gently leaving the cloth-covered body of her friend’s lost love in the hands of Courtney and Sonya as she joins the men in standing up. Lowering his weapon with satisfaction in the shot that he’d taken, Darnell turns away from his victim and sets his eyes upon the man that looks on nearest to him, locking eyes with the grieving stalwart for a moment before symbolically stepping aside. “Is-?” Marta wonders aloud, leaning away from her friend as she’s interrupted, hearing the shuffle of the man’s hand reaching for the sharpened staff that had been laid upon the truck bed. Climbing down with a fire in his eyes, Lou’s footsteps cement themselves in the loose snow as he passes his entire group, approaching the victim that tries crawling to her feet as stains of red cover the snow beneath her body. “Hey! Listen! You would’ve done the same thing!” Christina proclaims, turning onto her back and holding her hands up in surrender, fighting to pick herself up off the ground as the enraged survivor draws nearer. “I don’t need food! I don’t! You guys can just keep going! I won’t hold you up!” she continues to plead, lifting herself off her knees and limping backward to gain separation, “just keep going! Leave me behind, it’s all go-!” Struck in the abdomen with the man’s staff, Christina keels over and drops to her knees, grasping at her stomach before the man’s boot presses against her chin and forces her agape mouth to direct itself toward his face. Focusing the dagger onward, Lou thrusts his rebar pillar through the woman’s mouth and out of the back of her head, stifling the scream that she’d reacted with as she gargles on the blood pooling in her mouth and spilling through the wound. With absolutely non-existent relenting, Lou murders the woman without batting an eyelash, watching her nightmare-inducing wide eyes look up at him for the seconds that proceed before tearing the staff free. Folding backward lifelessly, Christina’s body craters into the snow for only a few moments, the path she occupies needed for the truck to continue forward. Unbothered by the act he’d committed, Lou puts his vengeance to rest by strolling to his victim’s side and kicking her down the hill off to the road’s side, freeing the route for his group to continue before casually venturing back the way he’d come. Forced to cover her mouth at her inability to close it herself, Marta watches her mentor return and climb back aboard the truck, dismissing the various expressions of all sorts from his group and taking his original seat without a moment of concern. Patting the side of the truck as he sets his staff down, “let’s go” Lou calls out with a straight face, staring at the few stragglers approaching them at a snail’s pace from within the cluster of abandoned traffic whilst waiting for his peers to do as instructed. With shrugs, quieted looks of disbelief and grins of approval, the survivors collectively return to their vehicle and feel the weight of the truck shift with its renewed acceleration, their path carrying them beyond the corpse they leave behind as the sun stamping its place in the sky sheds light on a morning that’s just beginning. == RISE and REVOLT == |
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