Dead World Rising

by Katerina Petrova

  I looked through the window but didn't know where we were going, I'd just been ordered to get in the car. I was somewhat thankful that I was in the car with Nathaniel's men and not Dave's people. Dave's men went in one car, while five of Nathaniel's men plus me were in the 4 x 4, another five of Nathaniel's went in a third car.

  'Where are we going?' I asked Cyrus.

  'We're going to teach some people a lesson,' he replied plainly. Something was amiss with this mission, I could tell by the look in his eyes. I wondered what was going on. Was it Dave and his men they were going to kill or were there other people around? I saw small roads and tiny towns, there were rodents scurrying along dirt paths. As we drove into forest the sun fell below the horizon, we were heading west but still I couldn't figure out exactly where we were heading.

  We drove over a large white bridge, I recognised it as 'Skye Bridge' we were heading to the Isle of Skye. Surely if they wanted to teach Dave and his men a lesson, they wouldn't have come all this way to do it. There must be other people here, as I looked out the window at the stunning scenery before me a sad thought occurred to me. My family might be here, I knew Jensen, Tamara and Tom would not rest until they found us. I hadn't known Frankie long, but I felt sure that she would help them. After all she did travel through corpse infested towns just to keep a promise to my Cameron. I shook my head not wanting to believe it, I had already watched them kill Maggie, I just couldn't suffer through seeing the rest of my family brutally murdered.

  By the time we reached our destination the sun was almost completely gone, I got out of the car to find myself near a large, beautiful castle. It stood tall with three floors and a Keep on top, the tower was slender and simple. The grounds were stunning, I could see the greenery stretching round to the back of the castle, I could just make out a lake round the back.

  Yet the beautiful scenery was tainted by the sight of the open truck full of walkers, that stood just in front of the castle doors. Large locked iron gates stood between us and the castle grounds.

  'What do we do now?' Asked Dave fearfully. 'We get in there, what else,' growled Cyrus. As Cyrus and Byson made Dave and his men work on getting the gate unlocked they walked around looking for any walkers that might be hidden. I stood by the gates watching Dave and his lot, the gates were locked with a big metal chain and a padlock.

  'I need the bolt cutters,' Dave shouted to his men. They raced to the car to get a large pair of bolt cutters, I stood not saying a word. It wouldn't serve me to speak, especially with how angry and grief stricken I was at the time. After a few minutes Dave managed to get the gates open, Nathaniel's men stood by as Dave opened the gates as quietly as they could.

  'Everyone be quiet, no sudden sounds or movements,' Byson whispered. We all just nodded, I was near to the back of the group between two of Nathaniel's men Lonnie and Ron. Lonnie was a slender man in his thirties, he had shaved black hair, bulging brown eyes and tanned skin. He didn't portray as being as nasty as some of the men in Nathaniel's group, but I knew when it came to these men to never let my guard down.

  Ron was a younger boy, he looked to be about twenty. He had a round pudgy face that was red from the sun, the rest of his skin was pale. His brown hair fell in matted waves down his back, clearly he'd never heard of a hair brush. His dark blue eyes seemed empty of emotion and his face merely looked bored.

  I felt my nerves standing on edge as we approached the castle, it wasn't like me to be afraid but I couldn't help but wonder if I would survive this. There must have been almost a hundred corpses pouring out of the truck, before I could even speak Cyrus and Byson had grabbed hold of two of Dave's men and thrown them into the pile of corpses. I watched as the men were torn apart, they fought with all their might but even I knew there was no hope for them. I stared without blinking as I heard their flesh tear, I smiled, not in a sadistic way but in relief. I wondered if Nathaniel had sent me with them so I could see Dave and his men get their punishment.

  'What the fuck are you doing?' Growled Dave.

  'Following orders,' Cyrus replied smiling. Dave and the remainder of his men grabbed their knives in an attempt to defend themselves, but Cyrus and the others were too fast. They'd got Dave and his two men and were dangling them in front of the walkers. I couldn't help but smile, after all they'd done, not just to my friends but to all the women who came before, they were finally going to pay for it.

  Without another word, Cyrus and the others threw Dave and his mates into the horde, I watched smiling as they were torn to shreds. I tried my damnedest not to laugh as I saw the look of horror on their faces, Dave even had the nerve to call out to me for help.

  'That's for Maggie,' I growled as Dave took his last breath, looking me right in the eyes.

  'Now it's your turn missus,' Byson said quietly.

  'What?' I asked fearfully. 'We've brought you here to let you go,' he replied.

  'Why?'

  I knew I should be grateful but I wanted to know what the strings were to me being let go. It was then that they told me about what Maggie had said before she was murdered, Jensen and the others were going to team with the sanctuary and even Nathaniel knew he couldn't fight them all. How she knew that, I didn't know. Nathaniel's plan was to let us both go, but she'd betrayed him by killing one of his men and trying to escape. Cyrus and some of the women had walked in on her doing it, Nathaniel knew he couldn't let it go. So he killed her, they were letting me go in a hope that Jensen and the others would just leave them alone. If what they'd said was true, Maggie could have been here with me. My family was inside that castle, I couldn't believe it, I would finally be back with them.

  'How the hell am I supposed to get past those biters?' I asked.

  'Not our problem, our job is done. Now you just make sure you do your part,' Byson replied coldly. I watched as they turned to walk back to their cars, the corpses were still too busy eating Dave and his men to take much notice of me. I couldn't see anyone in the Keep, but they had to be in the castle. I went underneath the bridge that the biters were on, I followed the path round the back of the castle in a hope of finding a back entrance. Now that I was alone, I let the tears fall. I was supposed to protect Maggie, she was my responsibility and I'd failed her. How was I going to tell Jensen that she was dead? It was my fault, I'd let her down and I'd let Jensen down to. I walked round the side of the castle, keeping an eye out for stray biters. This place was beautiful, as I neared the back I tried calling out.

  'Jensen, Tamara,' I shouted.

  There was no reply.

  'Is anyone there? It's Jade,' I called again. I came round to other side, the corpses couldn't really get to me as they'd barricaded one of the paths which led to where I was getting to. I saw on the side of the castle, a door, I tried opening it but it wouldn't budge.

  'It's Jade, open the door!' I shouted. For a moment I heard nothing, but then there was rustling from behind the door. I could feel my pulse racing, was my family really here? Would they still welcome me with open arms? I'd been gone almost six months, would I even recognise them? Were they the same people I'd left? As the door flung open I saw Jensen, Tamara, Frankie and a bunch of other people I didn't recognise.

  'Jade!' Tamara exclaimed as she flung her arms round me. Before I knew it, both Jensen and Tamara had their arms around me, we were crying tears of joy as the relief set in that I was finally back with my family. Wait, where was Tom, I wondered? Surely he would want to welcome me back.

  'It's good to have you back Jade,' Frankie said smiling.

  'It's good to be back,' I told her.

  I had a feeling that Frankie had taken care of my family in my absence, I wiped away my tears as they led me inside.

  'Nikkita, can you and your people check the grounds and clear away the corpses, while we get Jade up to speed and find out what she knows?' Frankie asked them.

  Wait, what? If memory served me right, Nikkita was Frankie's girlfriend, but wasn't she supposed to be dead? I felt confused and suspected that her
return wasn't the only surprise.

  'Sure, no problem,' she replied softly. They led me up to the next floor into Frankie's bedroom, I sat down on the bed as Jensen handed me something to eat and drink. I hadn't realised I was hungry until I ate my tin of vegetables. As I finished eating, Jensen asked me the one thing I was dreading.

  'Jade, what happened to Maggie?' He asked worryingly.

  I put my bottle of water down and looked into his beautiful green eyes, there was no way to sugar coat this.

  'S-she's dead,' I stammered.

  I watched as his face fell apart, he slumped to the floor, tears spilling down his face. Frankie was by his side in seconds, I didn't know what to say or how to help him.

  'I'm so sorry sweetie,' Frankie said as she held him.

  Another piece of news I hadn't expected, Frankie and Jensen were a thing.

  'Why did they let you go Jade?' Tamara asked concernedly. I told them the whole story, even the part about Maggie and how she'd inadvertently screwed up her chances of being freed. They all sat in shock as I told them story of the last six months, I couldn't stop from crying as I relived the horror.

  'I'm so sorry, we tried to save you from Dave, but Nathaniel and his men got there before we could rescue you,' Frankie told me sadly.

  'So it was you who killed most of Dave's men,' I gasped in shock.

  'Yeah it was, if it wasn't for Frankie we wouldn't have made it this far,' Tamara told me proudly.

  'Thank you, so much for taking care of them.' 'It's alright, but listen there's so much we need to tell you. Much has changed since you've been gone,' Frankie replied tearfully.

  'Aye there is, first of all let me introduce you to Finn. He was a huge help to us in fighting Dave and his men,' Tamara pointed to the blond-haired boy who sat in the corner.

  'Nice to meet you lad,' I smiled.

  'I'm glad your back safely, they've been worried about you,' he replied smiling at me.

  'And this is Izzy, you might know her from Dave's group,' Frankie informed me.

  I did recognise her, it was her friend that had been taken by Nathaniel.

  'Your friend is alive and well,' I told her.

  'Thank you, but when we checked out the compound I was told she was pregnant, is it true?' She asked sternly.

  'I'm afraid so,' I answered sadly.

  'We need to get her back, and soon,' she spokesharply.

  'We'll do what we can,' Frankie told her.

  'What is it you need to tell me?' I asked fearfully. I cried the whole way through their story, my friend Tom was dead, they'd found my daughter Amber but she was a walker. Jensen and Frankie had indeed gotten together, but then Nikkita had come back. They'd rescued some of the women in Dave's compound, they'd come all the way up here to rescue me and Maggie and had teamed up with Nikkita's group as they had people in Nathaniel's group. So much had happened, I could sense how they'd all changed in the last six months, I could tell that Tamara and Jensen had grown stronger.

  'I'm just glad you all made it through,' I told them tearfully.

  Just then Nikkita and her friends came walking though the door.

  'Sorry to interrupt, but we were hoping you could answer some questions for us,' Nikkita spoke kindly.

  'I'll do what I can,' I answered simply. The next two weeks were difficult, Nikkita and Frankie's friends had been arguing about what to do. It seemed they couldn't reach a decision, Frankie, Finn and Tamara thought that as they'd got me back that they shouldn't attack Nathaniel's group. Jensen of course wanted to get revenge, while Izzy and Nikkita's friends still wanted to get their people back and were annoyed at Frankie for going back on her word. Each day was full of arguing, this was not the warm welcome I had expected.

  'Alright you lot, give it a rest!' I shouted at them all.

  The room fell silent, and all eyes turned to me. 'We've got to talk about this properly, arguing isn't doing anyone any good,' I scolded them.

  'You're right Jade,' Frankie agreed. I could tell she was just as fed up with the arguing as I was. From what I'd been told by Jensen and Tamara, Frankie had been the voice of reason in my absence but even she couldn't stop them from arguing now.

  'You made a deal, you can't go back on it,' Casey piped up.

  'We need you,' Xandra said.

  'I know you do, but given how vast their numbers are, how can we risk our people? Especially when we've just got one back?' Tamara replied softly.

  'I want to get revenge,' Jensen growled.

  Frankie looked at him lovingly, she held his hand under the table, squeezing it gently.

  'How will getting yourself killed, help us?' She told him.

  He shook his head, 'I can't let them get away with this,' he replied angrily.

  'Jensen listen to me, I know how you feel, I was there when she died and I couldn't do a damned thing to save her. Don't let me lose you to,' I begged him.

  He sighed knowing I was right, I understood how he felt but I wouldn't let him die.

  'What about Hayley? You promised to help me get her back,' Izzy shouted.

  'I know we did, but given their numbers how can we hope to take them on. Jade you said their numbers reach seventy,' Frankie said.

  'Yes they do, there's no way even with your plan that you could take them on and not lose anyone,' I responded calmly. I could see Nikkita's friends were getting frustrated, I knew how badly they wanted to rescue their people and I'd told them what little I could. I knew both Casey and Xandra's sister, neither of them were pregnant and both of them were being treated well.

  'If your not going to help us, then we'll just go ourselves!' Xandra shouted angrily as she stormed off.

  'She's right, we'll just do it on our own,' Casey said as she stormed off with Xandra.

  'I'm sorry to say, but you guys can count me out,' Nikkita told them quietly. Suffice to say we were all gob smacked, but we said nothing. I watched as her friends walked off in a huff giving her evil looks as they did, I felt a little sorry for Nikkita, Frankie was with Jensen and she'd just lost her friends. After being with them for two weeks, I saw just how hard this was for Nikkita.

  I'd spoken to her alone on a few occasions and I could tell that having to see Frankie with Jensen was killing her, even though she was putting on a brave face. Nikkita had only good things to say about Jensen, which on made me have more respect for her. I'd also had a talk with both Frankie and Jensen on their own, Jensen felt bad that he might be getting in the way of Frankie being with Nikkita. Frankie felt awful for hurting Nikkita and for putting Jensen in an awkward position, I wanted to help but didn't know how without hurting someone.

  'I'm sorry,' Frankie said to Nikkita.

  'It's alright, I understand and to be honest I always thought the plan was a bit iffy,' she replied.

  'Do you need a place to sleep tonight?' Tamara asked kindly.

  'If you don't mind, I doubt I'll be welcome with that lot tonight,' she answered sounding rather depressed.

  'You can stay with me tonight,' Tamara told her. We sat and ate dinner together in silence, Jensen obviously still wanted to get revenge but he said nothing more about it. Izzy had gone to find Nikkita's friends, I knew she wouldn't let it go. My mind was still reeling from all they'd told me, I couldn't believe that I'd been so close to my daughter Amber but I hadn't seen her in Dave's compound. My poor girl, if only I'd known I would've gone to get her, and Tom. He died trying to save me, if only I could've seen him one last time. I said good night to the others and went to my room, since being back I'd not had time to mourn their loss. Everyone else had the last six months, but to me it was still so fresh.

  I sat on my bed and just let the tears fall, in the two weeks I'd been here I hadn't had the chance to tell the others about Sanctuary. While a part of me just wanted go home, I knew it wasn't an option. We needed people and walls in order to survive, it was then that it dawned on me.

  Why not go to Sanctuary and ask for their help, surely they wouldn't want to live next to a group
of slavers? I dried my eyes and raced downstairs to where Nikkita's friends were.

  'I've got an idea,' I told them.

  'What is it?' Izzy asked coldly. I told them of my plan and to my surprise they thought it was a good idea, if me and my group went to Sanctuary and asked them for help then they'd have the numbers they needed to take on Nathaniel's men. I warned them that if Sanctuary said no, that we wouldn't come to their aid.

  'Sanctuary's real?' Delilah said, shocked. 'Yes, I've seen the people. Nathaniel and his men trade with them, of course they make sure all the badly behaved women are put away. Sanctuary and their people just think it's another compound,' I explained.

  'It's enough that your willing to try,' Casey said gratefully. 'It's more than our fearless leader is willing to do,' Zachary spat. From the moment I met him, I hadn't liked him. There was just something about him, I couldn't put my finger on it but he would prove to be trouble, I just knew it.

  'I'll go and tell the others, I'm sure they'll agree,' I smiled.

  'Thank you for this,' Xandra replied graciously.

  'Don't thank me, I want to help. But I also want to keep my family safe,' I told her.

  I rushed off to find Frankie and the others, I told them to come to Frankie's room so we could talk. 'What's wrong?' Nikkita asked.

  'Nothing is wrong, but I have an idea that might help us all,' I informed them.

  'Tell us,' Jensen exclaimed. 'What if we all go to Sanctuary and ask them for help, from what I could gather they weren't aware of what Nathaniel's group were really doing. If we told them, they might just help us,' I replied happily.

  'It's real place?' They said in shock.