An Interactive Fic: THE FINAL /Ch.2D

THE FINAL
An interactive Walking Dead experience.
Rated T.  Warning: Explicit language.
Pairings: Felix & Marzia, Red & Russ, Minx & Krism. May be hints of slash.
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You and 63.0% of the readers chose A:
_{b) "We all killed her." - 35.2 %
c) "DEAF!! GRAB HER GUN!!" -  1.9%
d) "..." - 0.0%}

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Chapter 2, D: Atonement

You've chosen to remind Minx the purpose of Krism's sacrifice.

All eyes fell on the desperate woman and the room was still. Her shaky fingers held the trigger, and mind was going to give her the last push.

"STOP IT MINX!!" The sole voice in the room shouted, with more fear in itself than it is trying to assert. Ken's words trembled, but was determined to prevent - or at least delay her from what seemed at the time to be inevitable. "Would Krism want you to do this?!"

She chuckled coldly to herself, toying with that thought. Her mind lost long beyond sanity, but Ken wasn't going to give up on it. "She saved you, saved you because she wanted you to live." He took a cautious step forwards, and held out his hand for the gun which she still refuses to lower. "Not for this."

A mad, shrilling laughter dragged an icy blade down everyone's spine. "I can't." She simply stated. Finger closing in on the trigger.

"ARE YOU GONNA LET KRISM'S SACRIFICE GO TO NOTHING?!" Ken yelled in alarm, his body once again anchored to the ground.

"I can't."

And with a last smile, she finally pulled that trigger she'd so longed for.

A blind horror glazed over the room as everyone stood awaiting with hands over gaping mouths for that bang.

Click.

It clicked.

The ice in the room was suddenly burnt away by the overpowering sense of relief. All, but one who remained frozen. Minx's hand dropped heavily onto the marble ground, her hand still tightly grasping the cold, hard metal that could have ended her misery.

Ken rushed forwards, used gentle force and loosened her grip. Deaf kicked away the weapon hastily in disgust. Minx muttered to herself, Ken turned to look at the others for help.

Cry and Russ stood in silence, faces drained and hands clenching at the painful sight, knowing exactly how it feels to be driven so close to the edge. Pewdie stared back with worried eyes and Marzia slowly walked over to sit next to Minx, she patted her knees. "It's okay..." She lulled with soft voice.

"No." Minx suddenly laughed in mockery. "It's not okay. I fucked up."

"Minx..." Pewdie said. "You did not-"

"I even manage to somehow fuck up killing myself." Her laughter grew, her face twisted into a mad smile. "That's hilarious-"

"No It isn't." Cry stepped forward and spoke with a calm, direct and sincere seriousness. He knelt down to her eye-level and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I would have smacked the silly out of you for Krism, but I know better never to hit a girl. Now you listen to me, and you listen to me good."

The smile on her face disappeared as her attention was finally drawn to the man.

"I have no idea what happened, and no idea what you've been through." He said, then nodded up towards the sky. "But I know that if I were Krism up there, I would never want to see you like this. You will live. And you will live this well for Krism. You hear?"

Minx's broken voice spoke. "I don't deserve this. She doesn't deserve this... She didn't even have a .." The knot in her throat had cut her sentence off.

"Don't worry about that." Ken said with a smile after a prolonged silence. "I promise you she'll be alright."

She looked at him with red, teary, doubtful eyes. He gave her another smile, which finally cracked the ice she'd been trapped for so long in, and she suddenly found herself free. She cried.

"I promise."

~*~*~*~

That night was particularly dark. The moon had hid itself away under a thick blanket of clouds that showered the dead grounds constantly throughout the pitch-black night. The farm was now occupied with walkers thinly dispersed around the land. Amongst the mindless deads that dragged their bodies heavily about their newly gained territory, one's silence stood above the rest.

He looked down at her mangled body, she was hardly recognizable. With a glance, one would almost mistaken what was once a beautiful, young woman with a whole life ahead of her for a failed attempt at macabre art by a butcher.

The moon peeked out from the thick, dark clouds for a rare second, and shone onto the woman's hand. It was stiff, and caked with solid blood, but still wore the little rings of clean spots where tears had washed away. He brushes her dried hand with his. Poor soul.

Clouds trapped the moon once more, and rain continued to pelt. Under the protection of the heavy downpour and the darkness of the night. He carefully pulled her corpse along, and gave her what she didn't have that rushed afternoon.

~*~*~*~

"Didn't sleep?"

Ken turned from looking out at the slowly lightening day to face Cry with dark circles under his eyes. He rubbed his face and chuckled quietly with his warm, infectious laughter. "Yeah. Stayed up for quite some time listening to Minx vent."

Cry snickered, and looked down at the woman sleeping on top of a thin towel, her eyes still red and bloated from last night. "What about Deaf?"

"He needed some time on his own after yesterday too."

The sun began to peek out and shine onto this desperate land, it felt warm and forgiving against Ken's cheeks. He closed his eyes and leant against the window, dreaming of the sun shining through his pink eyelids.

Cry smiled, and left the man to his rest. He idly strolled down the aisle of the great, empty church, then quietly opened the door to the front yard, and slipped out into the chilly morning air. Sitting on the steps was Russ, toying with a lighter.

Click, snip.

"You're up early." Russ said without turning.

"Yeah."

Click, snip.

They both looked out at the rising sun. Ironic, how a symbol of rebirth and hope now only dawns upon what's lost and dead.

Cry looked down at Russ, and he saw a pair of eyes drowning in his sea of thought. "You okay?"

Click.

Snip.

"Yeah." He replied. Looking away from the forest. Cry sat down next to him. "I've still got Red's lighter." He smiled bitterly, then chuckled. "She must be dying for a smoke now."

Cry smiled back. Then stared ahead at the empty road. They both stayed silent for a while, then Cry's thought began to wonder aloud. "Why were all the zombies..."

"They were probably all the villagers, put in quarantine or something." He sighed.

The two squinted through lenses at a small silhouette that appeared on the empty horizon, back against the sun. Russ shot up in alarm, only to settle down as Deaf's features came into view. He carried with him a box of snacks. Cry got up too, and studied the man with confused, but hungry eyes. "Deaf?"

"I went to loot the 7-Eleven." Deaf nodded at his half-empty box of food. The two helped themselves to chocolate bars. "Not much left, but there were still some in the storage." He stared at them with content as they rapidly broke through the wrapper and devoured the snack.

"You went alone?" Russ asked.

He smiled with guilt. "To make amends for yesterday. She was right. There were almost no zombies on the way."

Cry narrowed his eyes. "But Ken said..."

"Ken's back?" He put down the box and beat away the dust on his trousers.

"He wasn't?"

"Didn't think so. He said he wanted to go out for a walk in the middle of the night. Which reminds me." Deaf's voice was suddenly brightened. "I came across a truck on the way. It works fine, and I found this in it." He reached into his pocket and took out a map. Red pen marked the highway that they'd come from, and to the side, their little town. Following the trail down, and across a page, was a big red cross on the edge of a little town whose name had been scratched out. "Where do you think it leads to?"

Russ and Cry took the map, and studied it closer with no findings. "The words are almost intelligible. But it seems to lead to a dock or something."

"You think there's gonna be help there?" Deaf asked hopefully.

"I... I don't know." Russ toyed with his lighter again, "I think we should stay, really. We've got enough food to last... longer. Safe base, and not much walkers at all." Cry watched him stare off into the forest.

"I get it." Deaf snorted, "You want to wait and see if your girlfriend shows up, right?"

Russ didn't reply.

"They will catch up. We can leave them a note or something." Deaf argues, "But this dock can be our escape."

"I don't know..." Cry repeated, scratching his head. "Seems like an awful long way to go. May take days, and more than one car. Besides, we don't even know what it is."

Russ shook his head. "Let's not talk about this."

"It has to mean something."

You're playing as Cry / ChaoticMonki for this Chapter. Your decision will decide what happens and who you'll meet in the next chapter.

Choose your reply:

a) "We can't leave our friends..." (side with Russ)
b) "Deaf does have a point..." (side with Deaf)
c) "..." (Remain silent)



To be continued...