“Jakey, why don't you show- uh, what's your name?” Brandon asks.
“Matthew.”
“Yeah. Why don't you show Matthew what we do when we’re mad?” Brandon says.
Jakey is a scrawny guy, with long blonde hair. He’s the same guy who has Chester’s headless body tied to his bag. Jakey looks crazed, with stubble growing from his face. There is something about his face is very off putting to Matthew. Jakey takes off his bag as they walk and jiggles the dead cat corpse while laughing.
That was my cat, and you killed him right in front of me.” Matthew explains.
Brandon looks confused, while Jakey looks a little agitated. Brandon takes his arm off Matthew and steps a few feet away. Matthew looks at Brandon, angry with what they did to his cat.
“What? You think you’re gonna fool anyone? I was in the house you raided this morning. That was my house! And you killed my cat! You’re sick, you know that? You’re not shit!” Matthew angrily says.
Brandon smiles for a moment, while glancing over at his two friends.
“Wow! Look who we have here! Mister big nuts telling me that I ain’t shit. Just... wow.”
“Go fuck yourself.” Matthew spits out.
“Hey, you might wanna watch your tongue when you’re speaking to me.”
Matthew looks angry and feels nothing but utter hatred for these three men. He has never felt this angry with other people before, but they are truly sick individuals. Matthew and the three bandits continue to walk on the train track out of town. The track bends slightly, and they approach a large hill off the side of the track. They begin to walk past the large hill, so Matthew can no longer see the town behind him. Matthew wonders if Laura is still waiting for him in the dumpster. He remembers the he made her a promise that he would find her, but a part of him believes that’s not going to happen. Matthew looks disappointed in himself. After a whole month of surviving alone, he is now going to die.
“Brandon, the sun is going down. Maybe we should pick up the pace.” Jakey explains.
“Shut up! I call the shots, Jakey. Don’t ever forget that.” Brandon says.
There is a pause, and tension starts to form in the group dynamic. Matthew wonders who the third member of this group is. He hasn't said a word this entire time. Brandon stops talking, and just looks ahead while walking. Matthew looks back at Jakey, but Jakey is staring at Brandon as he walks. Jakey looks mad and jealous. Matthew realizes what's going on. There must be some kind of conflict in this group. They aren't stable, and they aren't coordinated. Maybe Matthew could use this to his advantage.
The group continues to walk. They approach an intersection of the train track and a main road. There are a few buildings down the road from the intersection. This an area the Matthew rarely ever passed by when he was younger, but he has a basic idea of where he is. If he could manage to get away, maybe Matthew could try and get to Michaels house, like he originally planned. Even if the likelihood of him not being there is very low, it’s really his only option. At this point, he has nowhere to be in this new world. The group steps onto the intersection. Matthew continues to walk on the track, but Brandon pulls him off and pushes him ahead onto the street. Matthew has no idea where they are going, or what they plan on doing, but they are really taking their time.
“Why didn't you greet us at the door when we showed up this morning?” Brandon asks.
“I had a feeling you guys were assholes.”
Brandon doesn’t respond. He is getting fed up with Matthews sarcastic responses. He just stops trying to pass the time all together. The group continues to walk on the road, and they get close to some buildings on their left. To their right is a small plaza with abandoned stores and restaurants. The area seems calm and void of any life. Matthew becomes worried because after all this time of walking, no chance of possible escape has come up. They continue to walk. Matthew passes a building and looks to his left. Matthew sees an alleyway. In it are half a dozen infected roaming toward the street. He has an idea and plans to play it out. Matthew slows down as he walks so the infected will notice him. The infected look up and see the group walking on the street. Matthew sees this and becomes hopeful. Maybe his chance is about to come up. Matthew brings no attention to the infected, and the three bandits are completely unaware of their presence. As soon as the infected step out onto the street, the bandits begin to hear their groans. Brandon turns to face the infected. The group become caught off guard.
“Shit! Okay, get ready to fire.” Brandon says.
The bandits raise their weapons at the infected and ready their aim. They are focused and not paying attention to their surroundings. This is his chance, and he must take it. Matthew sprints at Brandon and tackles him. Right on impact, Brandon accidentally fires his rifle at the ground. Brandon flies into Jakey, and the two falls onto the ground. Matthew quickly gathers himself and sprints toward the main plaza not too far away. The third bandit doesn’t know whether or not to shoot Matthew. He decides to help up Jakey and Brandon. The two get up, but Jakey runs after Matthew. He is enraged. Brandon looks pissed but doesn't do anything about it.
“He’ll get em’.”
Brandon turns back to the infected and begins using the buttstock of his rifle to hit them in the head. Brandon kills a few, while the third bandit also melee kills some infected as well.
Matthew runs into the entrance of an abandoned restaurant. Inside, many tables are flipped over, and the building has clearly been ransacked by previous visitors. He quickly notices how dark and eerie the building is, but that changes nothing. Matthew runs further into the restaurant and gets down behind a half wall in the center of the room. On the other side of the wall is where people would have sat in booths to eat dinner. Jakey enters the restaurant and stops in his place. Jakey looks around. Matthew is nowhere to be seen. Jakey smiles for a moment and slowly begins to walk forward.
“Where are you, Matthew?”
Jakey chuckles to himself as he walks around slowly. The sight of him slowly walking as if he’s hunting its prey is disturbing. Matthew peaks over the corner of the half wall and sees this. Matthew moves back into cover and begins crawling on the ground away from Jakey.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
Matthew crawls behind the counter next to door to the kitchen of the restaurant. Matthew peeks out from behind cover and watches Jakey. He is still hidden, but Jakey is getting closer. Jakey approaches the half wall where Matthew was and quickly moves around it with his rifle drawn, anticipating Matthew being there. To his surprise, He is not. Jakey becomes a little agitated by this and looks around the room to see where Matthew could be. He is a very impatient person and doesn’t want this ‘game’ to go on any longer. Jakey turns and walks toward a different part of the restaurant, away from Matthew.
“Okay Matthew, enough of these games!”
Jakey walks away into the darkness of the restaurant. Once he is completely out of Matthews view, Matthew crawls over to the door to the kitchen and slowly opens it. Matthew opens it very slowly to not make any distinct noise to attract Jakey in his direction. Matthew gets the door open and slowly makes his way inside. Matthew stands up-right, trying to see around the dark kitchen. It is very dark in the kitchen due to the lack of natural lighting. Matthew slowly walks toward one of the windows that connects the dining area to the kitchen where the chefs would normally pass the food onto the waiters. Now Matthew can see better because of the light being exposed into the room. Matthew walks slowly, but suddenly, he accidentally kicks a pan that was laying on the ground. Matthew stops walking after this surprise and becomes extremely worried Jakey might have just been alerted to his presence. Matthew stands completely still for a moment, but eventually turns and walks away. As soon as he does, an infected chef lunges at Matthew from the darkness. The infected pushes Matthew up against the wall and attempts to bite him. The infected in the chefs clothing has blood dripping down from his jaw and all over his white top. He is surprised he can
even see this in the dark kitchen. Matthew holds the infected by the neck, so he can't bite him, but Matthew is fully aware Jakey is definitely on his way here now. Matthew has no idea what he should do to try and kill the infected. Matthew quickly remembers his knife from his house. He reaches back to pull out his knife, but out of nowhere, Jackey barges into the kitchen with his gun drawn. Matthew panics and throws the infected toward him with all his strength. The infected catches Jakey off guard and bites him in the shoulder. Jakey lets out a loud scream of agony. Matthew runs past Jakey and the infected to get out of the building. Jakey looks infuriated after being bitten, and stares at the infected for a moment. Jakey uses all his strength and smashes the infected’ s head onto a counter top nearby. The brute force of this smash is enough to kill the infected.
Matthew runs out the front entrance of the restaurant but is stopped by Brandon and the other bandit. They have their weapons aimed at Matthew ready to fire. Matthew gets down after sprinting and losing his breath. He raises his hands slightly to indicate surrender. Matthew is terrified, not knowing whether or not they will accept his surrender or just execute him on the spot. Matthew looks up at Brandon. Neither of them says a word.
Jakey steps out from the restaurant and aims his gun at the back of Matthews head. Jakey’s shoulder is drenched in blood from the infected bite. He looks emotional and enraged.
“Let me do it, Brandon! Please!” Jakey pleas.
“What happened to your shoulder?”
Brandon stares at Jakey, waiting for a response. Jakey looks up at Brandon. There is a tense pause. Brandon does not look pleased.
“One of those fuckers bit me!” Jakey shouts.
Brandon doesn't react. Jakey looks back down at Matthew, ready to pull the trigger.
“It was his fault! He lured me int-”
Brandon raises the rifle at Jakey and pulls the trigger. A chunk of Jakey’s head gets blown off, and the dead corpse fall to the ground. Matthew turns around to see Jakey dead behind him. Brandon just executed his friend on the spot. Matthew looks horrified by the sight of Jakey’s corpse.
“Shut up.” Brandon says.
Matthew turns back and looks at Brandon with fear in his eyes. Matthew has no idea what Brandon is capable of. The third bandit walks over to Matthew and picks him up. Matthew steps forward and walks past Brandon, already expecting to be taken further down the road. Brandon smiles while watching him walk. Brandon and the third bandit follow Matthew as he walks.
“I like this kid. It’s a shame for what’s about to happen.” Brandon says under his breath.
The group of three continue to walk down the road. Matthew is accepting defeat already. He knows Brandon is so unpredictable that he can win any fight against Matthew, no matter what. Matthew has never felt this kind of defeat in his entire life, but it really makes him value the short life he lived. Matthew begins to think about his entire life up until this point. His parents, his family, Michael, school, friends. It all meant so much to him, but now he knows his life is near its end, he appreciates is all so much more. It feels right to him. He fought, but it feels okay to give up now. Matthew feels blissful as he walks and feels the cool breeze brush up against the back of his head.
“Hey Matt! Whatever you think is about to happen, I promise you, it’s going to be so much worse.”
Matthews heart sinks as he hears Brandon say this. Even though he already accepted defeat, this makes him realize his loss won't be painless. Matthew quickly begins to feel that part of the human spirit that kept him alive up until this point. Matthew doesn’t want to face a cruel end like Desmond, Timothy, Kurt, or Jakey. Matthew wants to live. He wants to find Michael and the rest of his family. He has the drive to keep fighting. He knows deep down, he can beat this world. He knows he can survive. The group walks over a hill in the road. Matthew quickly sees where they have been heading this entire time.
Not too far away is an abandoned gas station, but there are a dozen or so other bandits waiting near it. Matthew never considered the idea Brandon had more friends. They must have set up a safe zone at this gas station. They probably only sent out a few men to look for resources while the others stayed behind and secure the perimeter. Matthew becomes panicked on the inside but doesn’t let it show on the out. The gas station has parked cars around it, and some of the men casually sit around talking. As they near, Matthew notices the blunt weapons in their hands.
The three of them approach the gas station. Matthew begins to feel nervous. All these gruesome thoughts pop into Matthews head. He has no idea what to do to get out of this one. Matthew looks around and realizes how far out from town they are. There are barely any buildings nearby. It's just this gas station, and a wide-open field with hills. There is truly nowhere for him to run.
“Hey boys! Look what I got here!” Brandon screams to his other fellow bandits.
The bandits at the station all turn to face Matthew as he walks down the road toward them. They all begin to laugh to themselves and smile. Matthew and the others reach the station, and the remaining bandits just stare at him with sadistic smiles on their faces. Matthew knows there is no way to fight his way out of this. Maybe he can try and reason with them.
“Let me join you, Brandon. I can change, I promise!” Matthew pleas.
Brandon laughs to himself. The other bandits begin to laugh as well.
“Just shut up and sit down over there.” Brandon says while pointing to a spot on the ground near a gas pump.
Matthew hesitates but inevitably agrees to sit. Matthew walks over and sits down next to the gas pump. The other bandits pick up some blunt weapons that had been laying down on the ground, or on top of vehicles parked in the station. Matthew quickly realizes two possibilities of what is about to happen. Either they are going to torture him or beat him to death. Either way, Matthew dies brutally. Matthew begins to sweat and breath heavily. There seems to be no hope for him. The bandits begin to surround Matthew and taunt him with their weapons. Matthew doesn’t understand how animalistic these people could be. If he thinks they are animals now, he has no idea about what is still to come. There are so many he knows he has no chance. He can’t even see Brandon anymore. He is probably hiding back, waiting to hear Matthews screams of torture. As they surround him, Matthew begins to tear up and get emotional. He can't control his emotions because of how scared he is. Matthew cries, but while the bandits start to laugh at him, he notices something. Across the street, on top of a large hill is someone. Matthew focus’ in on who this person could be. He has no idea, but after a moment, it begins to look like Kurt. Matthew doesn’t understand what he's looking at. He assumed Kurt had died back in the cathedral, and that this is just someone else. Matthew continues to watch this person, but suddenly notices they raise a firearm and point it right at Matthew. Whether its Kurt or not, Matthew understands he only has one option; run.
Matthew bolts up, body checks the nearest bandit, and runs across the street toward the man on the hill. The bandits are surprised to see him try and escape, but suddenly notice the man on the hill as well. The man begins to fire a fully automatic weapon at the gas station. Multiple bandits are hit with bullets. Matthew runs across the street and takes cover behind an abandoned car. The man continues to fire his gun at the station. Multiple bullets hit the gas pumps. The bandits scatter from the station but are not quick enough. Suddenly, the gas station explodes. The ground shakes, and Matthew covers his head with his arms for protection. The few bandits that were close to the pumps were completely eviscerated. Matthew takes a moment, but eventually stands up and looks at the gas station. It’s gone. The bandits are dead, and the building is in rubble. Matthew is shocked at this sight, but quickly remembers the man on the hill. Matthew turns around to see Kurt walking down the hill toward Matthew. He can't comprehend what he had just seen. This entire time Matthew had thought Kurt was dead. He saw him die.
Kurt reaches the bottom of the hill. He is holding Francesco’s carbine rifle, and his shoulder is blood
y from the bullet wound. Matthew is still shocked to see him.
“Kurt… We thought you were dead.”
“I thought I was dead too.” Kurt says.
The two of them look at each other for a moment, but eventually Kurt walks past Matthew and toward the gas station. Matthew is still in shock.
“Thank you. If you didn't show up just now, I’d be dead.”
Kurt doesn't respond. He walks up next to a corpse that is on fire and picks up a firearm. Matthew walks closer to the gas station. He can't help but notice the sight of dismembered limbs and chunks of burning flesh all over the ground. The air is polluted with smoke, and smells of burning meat. Matthew looks at all the dead bodies and feels sick to the stomach. Matthew bends over and vomits. He takes a moment, but eventually pulls himself together and gets up. Matthew walks up to Kurt but stops once he sees Brandon laying on the ground, barely alive. Brandon’s legs are crispy, and one of his arms is completely gone. Matthew looks down at him, not knowing what to do. Brandon looks at Matthew. He can barely breathe and is in unbearable amounts of pain.
“You- you’re gonna die. You’re all gonna die-”
Kurt fires his rifle, killing Brandon.
“Shut up.” Kurt says.
Matthew stares at the dead corps in front of him. He doesn't know how to feel about all of this. He is disturbed at how violent everything turned out to be, but he is grateful Kurt saved him. Kurt turns around, not satisfied, but not enraged anymore. He can sleep well knowing he avenged Francesco and ended these evil men. Kurt walks away, down the street. Matthew quickly picks up a rifle off the ground and begins following Kurt as he walks away.
“Kurt!”
Kurt stops walking but doesn’t turn around. Matthew approaches him and stops walking as well. There is a silence. Neither of them speaks. Matthew is wondering what is going on inside Kurt's head. Kurt slowly turns around, but Matthew notices something unusual. Kurt has tears in his eyes.
Mankind Page 6
