Capítulo 4: The Community is Built
…
We began to walk a bit further into the forest, and I heard Kenny speak.
"You know since last night, we all can't stop wondering where those supplies of yours came from. Not that we're not grateful, we just want a proper explanation." said Kenny.
I nodded. "I know, I'm working on it."
Kenny glanced at me. "Working on it?"
I kept my eye on the tree line, as I expected, the entire forest was clear of Runners or Bandits. I started to reason that if I expected these people to follow me as I led them to rebuild humanity, or to the CDC, or wherever. I'd probably need them to trust me fully, at least to a decent extent.
I'd need to give them at least some version of the truth.
"Yeah, working on it?"
"When you say shit like that, makes me just think you're feeding us another lie." admitted Kenny.
Donnie walked up to us sniffing the ground near our feet.
"What is it boy?" I asked.
He ran to a spot nearby, stood on the top of a hill, his nose pointing a bit deeper in the forest.
"I think your dog found something," said Kenny.
We all approached slowly, and soon, we saw there was a camp, that I knew to be Jolene's.
"Seems to be empty." muttered Lee, drawing his pistol, "Think it's still worth a look."
"Agreed." Kenny replied and I nodded.
The three of us and Donnie all approached, and soon we began to look around at all the boxes and cans. Nothing useful, but something caught Kenny's eye.
"Save Lots." said Kenny, looking at one of the boxes. "Think that's a big wholesaler, wonder if we can find one nearby."
"Why?" I said, hoping he didn't want to go looking for it.
"What do you mean why? We've got over twenty mouths to feed, and a giant supermarket's gonna have a hell of a lotta food."
It took about three minutes, but we soon realized how deserted and useless it was. Made sense, I'd already looted it yesterday.
Donnie started growling, his neck hairs were on end.
I saw it on my minimap. "There's a Runner approaching, Donnie must sense trouble."
"Right." Kenny lifted his rifle.
It was Jolene, after I let her reanimate. She was lucky to not spend a year before I was going to shoot her again.
"It's just one of them, easy kill," Kenny shrugged.
"Shooting it might attract more." warned Lee.
Kenny kept looking down its scope, the Runner still hadn't noticed us. "Fine by me, this whole camp was useless anyway. The sooner we get outta here the better."
She turned, and spotted the three of us, standing ready in a kill circle after Donnie alerted us.
The speed at which zombie Jolene turned and began to run after Lee was alarming.
Before either him or Kenny could fire, I drew my revolver from my pistol, cocked it, aimed, and fired with both hands releasing two barrels, drawing it instantly to my hip.
Zombie Jolene fell after I shot her through the teeth and forehead.
Lee and Kenny were shocked, I hadn't even drawn my weapon and dispatched the Undead quicker than either of them the split second the zombie attacked and they were already armed.
I re-holstered my pistol and kept walking.
"H-Holy shit. You some kinda cowboy?" Kenny said half jokingly.
"Not really, let's keep moving."
…
The St. John Dairy farm was equally useless, again I had looted it all, but there was one bit I hadn't looted.
"Damn." Lee said seeing the entire house where the St. John's Dairy farm was burned down, the rest of the ranch perfectly intact.
Donnie instantly alerted us there was something in the barn, running towards it and sitting down next to the door.
"Good boy." I rubbed the top of his head, the dog smiling and panting the whole time.
Kenny opened the barn door, surprised at what he saw inside. "It's a cow."
"A prize winning cow." I said, walking forward. "If these medals and aware
I ran my hand across [Maybelle]'s back and spoke. "Hey mama, how are you?"
She didn't really respond and I tested one of her udders, surprised when milk came out. "What do you know? It's pregnant. Er, probably."
"I'm sure we can find out for sure. Good thing we have two vets back at the motel," admitted Lee.
Despite being a dairy farm, this was the only cow on the whole farm. It was the only thing I didn't loot because I stuff a living breathing cow into my [Inventory] nor did I believe I could just drive around with it.
"Well, this is a lucky break." Kenny smiled, rubbing the cow's ear. "The motel's not too far, we should bring it back and then plan our next move."
…
"Wooow!"
Clementine and Duck were ecstatic to see a cow when we walked it right through the cars acting as gates. No one else was impressed, not just because they were adults, but also like Otis, Maggie, and all of Hershel's family they grew up on a farm and lived there their whole lives.
However, they were glad to find a potentially plentiful source of milk for the group.
"Where'd you find it?" asked Lily.
"On a farm not too far from here. Bandits, or, whoever, must've burned down the bunkhouse along with everyone in it. The rest of the place was deserted." Kenny explained. "Marcus here thinks this cow is pregnant."
Katja approached and began to look her over.
Lily turned towards Lee and I. "What else did you find?"
"There's a wholesaler that someone used supply boxes from. Called Save Lots." said Lee, I said absolutely nothing on this. "I think I know where that place is."
"You do?" I asked.
"Yeah, most of Macon did a decent bit of their shopping from Save Lots, even if we preferred supporting the local shops more. Grew up around here. My memory's kind of fuzzy, but I remember the directions vaguely."
Kenny was surprised. "I don't think you mentioned you that before."
"Doesn't matter," Lily uncrossed her arms. "Do you think you could find that place?"
"Sure, just need a truck to get there. Not the biggest fan of using those horses we just got." Lee explained.
Lily thought to herself. "A wholesaler, you'd probably need a decent bit of people to scavenge for supplies there."
"First let's see what's going on there," I spoke up. "Then we can come back."
"Okay." Lily said slowly. "Guess they're taking your truck."
I tossed Lee the keys. "Sounds good to me."
"When are you coming back?" I heard Clementine ask as she, Duck, and Katja stayed with the cow.
"Uh, soon honey. Before it gets dark for sure." said Lee.
Katja was finished. "She's pregnant for sure. Herschel and I can help deliver the calf when she's due."
I looked up and down. "Are you sure she'll be fine out here on solid concrete? Building a pen for her in the bit of forest we have sounds like a bad idea if an Infected got her."
"We'll have to figure that out later." Kenny said. "Come on Lee, let's find that Save-Lots."
A part of me wanted to stop them, but I was starting to realize more and more that if I couldn't see these people as trustworthy. Then they shouldn't see me either as so.
…
"What in the fuck happened here?" Kenny asked when we arrived.
The scene of my massacre of the raiders was apparent. I saw a couple pinpricks of red on minimap, I'm sure a couple of them who still had enough of their bodies intact enough to reanimate did so.
"Something knocked over all these trucks." Lee said. "But not an explosion, there's no sign of a blast."
It was me, chucking fridges.
An Undead with half of its body missing began to crawl out towards Kenny, he merely stomped its head open.
There was puddles of gasoline from when I shot holes through the axles and underbellies of all their cars, broken glass everywhere, the front entrance of the Save Lots was just blown open too when I just juggernaut-ed through it.
"Keep your eyes open for Undead." warned Lee.
Inside, Kenny realized what happened. "Whoever attacked this place did it recently."
"You think so?" I asked.
"Yeah." Kenny pointed around. "The blood on that counter." he nodded to a metal bar supporting a massive shelf stories tall. "Looks fresh, bullet casings suggest someone used rifles, handguns, shit, pretty much everything you could think of to blast these people to kingdom come."
Lee chuckled. "Damn Ken, you know your guns."
"Wouldn't consider myself a proud Florida guy if I didn't." he said confidently.
I remembered each of these bandits dying at my hand as Kenny looked around. "Hm. Interesting."
"What?"
He kneeled picking something up. "A grenade pin, judging how some of these freaks have their limbs all over the place, someone was chucking grenades at them."
Kenny stood up. "The military must've come through here. That or-"
Donnie started growling, instinctively, all three of us readied our weapons.
"Watch out!" warned Lee.
When the three Infected appeared, running at us from around the bend of a massive metal shelf, I might as well have switched into Dead Eye from Read Dead Redemption and placed a red X over between all of their hollowed, white eyeballs.
Blam! Blam! Blam!
[You have gained +400 EXP from leveling up Hip Fire!]
I spun the pistol and placed it back in my holster, sniffed and looked aside.
Kenny and Lee were standing there as if I'd just discovered fire.
I shrugged. "What?"
"W-Was this you?" asked Kenny.
"How could it be? Where would I get my hands on automatic weaponry? And some freaking grenades?"
"I don't know." said Lee. "But this place already looked picked bone dry. I think you better start talking kid, and fast."
"You some sorta spy from the army?"
I looked at Kenny a bit offended. "What? Why?"
"Well no nineteen year old kid from South Carolina can use revolver like they're in a Western. Even if you loved guns growing up. And we find this place the day after you show up with a bunch of supplies you can't answer for?"
"Now look, calm down. I am from South Carolina."
"Then how did you shoot this place up yourself?"
"I didn't."
Kenny laughed at me. "Then how the hell do you explain getting all those supplies then? Any other places around Macon left that have that kind of food laying around other than here?"
"I'm telling you Kenny-"
"You're not telling me shit!" he said loudly. "I've had enough of this from you. All day you've been shooting Runners like they're moving in slow motion to you or something. And then act crazy when we point out how strange it is."
"But this store could've easily been the military," said Lee. "Come on now Kenny."
"Sure they were. And that just happens to coincide with when we meet this kid? Gimme a break, this is all too weird. Name the settlement you traded with right now son. Tell me!"
"Kenny. Calm down."
Kenny pointed towards me quickly. "Speak up, you say you traded for these supplies, and there's a completely empty giant store just a few miles from Macon? There's no sign of the army coming through here, and the closest army base is an old air field way off in the other direction, and Atlanta stand between here and Macon!"
Kenny held the bridge of his nose. "Stop lying to me! Tell us, where you got the supplies."
"If he's a government spy, then which is it? The army was here, or it was him?" said Lee.
"Stop twisting my words around Lee, no need to defend this kid."
I didn't see a point in lying anymore. After handing everyone the list, they'd be able to realize no one in those communities had a truck's worth of supplies able to give out. Even the biggest group on that list in the manila folder was about eight people.
"I got them myself."
"From?"
I sighed. "From here."
"Mind explaining how? You're a damn great shot, but this whole place looked guarded. You broke in on your own, and looted everything?"
"Yeah."
Kenny asked the obvious question. "Then where's all the food?"
In my Inventory. I guess I could technically hide it in a safe place before we get to camp.
"Uh…"
"Take it easy on him Ken, he did us a favor. Brought together more food in a day then we've found in weeks."
"I'll ask you one more time, where'd you hide the supplies? How'd you get so many?"
"Can I tell you later?"
Kenny raised his voice again. "You're telling me, now!"
"I can tell you back at the motel."
"Ken, give him a moment."
…
I helped them rig up a car in the parking lot, my [Mechanics] and [Hot Wiring] abilities were very high from so much practice so I let them drive back by themselves.
It took some searching, but I found a place safe enough to store a lot of my supplies, I guess it was a safer option to distribute them to the group in one big place instead of sprinkling them throughout the places we went out on supply runs.
Then, I drove back to the motel, it was around one thirty if the afternoon.
Everyone was there, waiting, listening.
I got out of my truck, and cleared my throat.
"Hey uh, everyone."
Doug turned, he had been talking to Beth. The twenty or so survivors in my group living at the Travelier motel gathered around.
"I think it's time you found out the truth behind where I got those supplies from last night."
"It's about time." growled Larry.
"First, the folder I gave you about the other groups of survivors is true. And yes, there was a large group of raiders harassing them all for supplies. According to that file, they knew about us, and we were next eventually."
Everyone kept listening.
"About over a year ago, I volunteered for the army. I had the performance necessary to be selected for a program, the kind you don't see earmarked in Congress for."
I saw Carley shift on where she rested against the wooden column supporting the second floor of the motel. "The program was designed for various things, such as human experimentation, new weapons, and biological warfare. The project wasn't what I thought it was, and I used the outbreak as a chance to escape."
"What kind of project was it?" asked Katja quickly.
"The kind meant to give soldiers multiple times over what the average person can do on the battlefield."
"How many times over?" Shawn wondered.
I considered my current level with the Gamer.
"Fifteen? Twenty? Something like that."
"And that's how you got the supplies we needed from that superstore." said Lee calmly.
"Exactly."
"Prove it." challenged Larry, crossing his arms.
"What?"
"Prove it. You're some kind of super soldier? Prove it."
Lily was surprised. "Dad!"
"What!? I don't care, but I need proof! So far all you've given us are lies."
"Yeah, I can prove it. You got any sort of change, small coins?"
"Sure, what for?"
I looked around at the group. "Stand back everyone, Larry toss them out and I'll shoot them as many as I can before they fall."
"Hah. Bullshit."
Larry dug the coins out of his pocket and scoffed, muttering under his breath as he shifted the coins around on his palm.
Thinking himself clever after everyone got well out of range, Larry tossed them without warning as fast as he could upwards.
There were three coins moving, two quarters and a dime.
Instantly, I struck all three.
I holstered my revolver, and one of the coins was fragmented, another indented after the bullet had ricoheted off of it, and another quarter had a hole in it the size of a .45 round.
The entire group was so shocked they were silent for a moment.
"Shit." Doug whispered aloud.
"Now, I didn't want to tell you all any of this. Because I thought you might think less of me. The things done during this program weren't ethical, or legal, nor were the experiments done on me thing I could particularly be proud of."
"I could imagine," said Hershel.
"Rest assured, I realized today after giving it some thought I can't lead this group unless you know the truth about me. That the abilities I have can be considered um, superhuman in some aspects."
"No shit." someone said calmly.
"Hold on, leading the group?" asked Lily.
"Well then that's another thing we have to worry about," said Larry. "If you're a deserter, the army could be our enemy. The last I heard about Atlanta was that they set up some sort of safe zone, no one's seen them since. So who knows what the hell sort of dictatorship they set up there."
He could be mistaken, but then again, my knowledge of the Last of Us' quarantine zones supported his statement. Different circumstances, similar world.
"Is that also how you knew about the cure?" asked Beth.
I nodded. "Yeah. Last place I was stationed before the outbreak was run by the CDC, mentioned something about a mutating pathogen when I started to be transferred. Don't remember too much about it other than it being in Georgia, very hard to find, and well guarded."
"Where are the rest of the supplies you took?" asked Kenny.
"In the basement of a shack near the stretch of woods past the Save Lots we went to, I have the keys."
"Well then what're we waiting for?"
Lily spoke up. "I think we should vote on this."
"Vote on what?" Lee asked.
"Whether we'd want to keep someone like Marcus around us." asked Lily. "Someone who was experimented on, and could potentially be part of a government conspiracy. One that destroyed the entire world."
"That's right." someone else said.
"Should I be here for it?" I asked.
"Sure, don't see why not. I just don't think it's fair if you get a vote." said Doug.
"Do I get a vote?" Clementine asked.
Lee seemed hesitant. "Sure."
Larry then said. "Then, who wants him outta here?"
Larry, Lily, Shawn, and about four others lost the vote. I guess when you have the ability to provide, and protect, as I just proved, you tended to be invaluable when the alternative is death. I guess the final thing they needed was the truth, or at least a version of it that omitted I had powers from another dimension and another where I knew this place to be fictional.
Considering how fucked up the things I knew to exist in this universe were and could get, I personally wished it wasn't real. But I knew I had the potential to change that, if I played my cards right.
"It's almost two to one." Kenny sighed, surprised that his own wife and child voted Yes when he said No. "Alright then."
"If I'm the leader of this group then, I guess I can reassign jobs. Lee, you and I and Kenny can go get the supplies I stored."
"Wait, I voted against you staying, you're not mad?"
"Why would I be? Until a few minutes ago, I didn't reveal my abilities or my reasons for hiding them. Don't worry about it Kenny."
The look on his face was puzzled, and I didn't blame him.
…
That night, I had successfully transferred all of the supplies I had gotten from raiding the Bandit's compound at Save Lots, to my Inventory, to the shack, finally to the Motel under safe protection.
A decent bit of work when I can instantly move anything the Gamer considers an 'Item.'
We all ate fine dinners, with fully bottled water. No one was hungry or thirsty.
We were still rationing food, but we had more than enough to make sure that everyone was fed for months.
The supplies I had could last us all weeks, but I as I chewed on a bag of potato chips on the second floor balcony of the Motel, watching everyone eat around a campfire or two and speak, I considered the next steps.
As good as it was that there were no hordes of Runners nor Bandits nearby, I had mostly taken care of the latter, we still would need to find a sustainable food supply. We could bunker down here in the motel for months sure, but that would only work short term.
We'd need to find a way to find a food supply that could replenish within quick bursts, such as getting St. John Dairy farm up and running again. It was doable because other than burning down the house where the cannibals all lived, it was in pretty good shape in my opinion.
"Hey."
I turned, Maggie was leaning slightly on the column between the balcony on the roof where I was thinking as I watched everyone below.
"You're trying to be a brooding sorta leader now huh?"
"Ah, I'm grateful everyone chose me."
"Not that we had much of a choice. I never liked Lily, nor do a whole lot of other people. Lee's fine I guess." Maggie admitted. "But Kenny isn't."
I smiled lightly.
"Thanks for sharing that by the way." said Maggie. "I appreciate it, the truth and all."
"Does that make things awkward now?"
"No, just. I uh." Maggie shrugged. "I think we need a sort of break?"
I was confused. "Is it over over?"
"I still like you, it's just, I'm starting to feel guilty about keeping everything about us so secret."
"Maggie, I like you a lot. I-"
"I know, it's just. I think I need some time to think."
There was silence.
"I'm sorry."
Maggie walked off, quickly slipping down the nearby staircase.
I fed Donnie and thought to myself. Girls could be strange, even well into their twenties, she literally told me she wanted to fuck me last night. And now that I'm technically even more important now in the group, she's more worried about her family.
"Cowgirl seems to like you."
I looked up, surprised to see Carley handing me a beer.
"Thanks." I took it, leaning on the balcony next to her. "I don't know if that's a good description of Maggie, bit more to her than that."
"That's just the impression I got," said Carley. "You're probably right though. I think you made the right choice by the way. Telling the truth I mean, I really found that admirable."
"Thanks, Maggie and I are just friends now by the way."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that. I can see the way she looks at you." Carley muttered, sipping her beer.
I drank mine too. "Where'd you get this?"
"It was with a few of the supplies. Figured you might want some, no one else was touching it."
"What do you think of Doug? And Lee?"
"Um," she moved a strand of hair behind her ear. "Not sure why you'd ask. I think they're both." Carley pushed her bottom lip forward, barely shrugging. "Fine. Why?"
"If we're talking about how people look at each other, then yeah."
"I don't like either of them."
"Really?"
"When the outbreak happened, Doug almost died when we were trapped in an old drug store. I wanted to tell him, I uh-" Carley stopped, shaking her head a bit. "I almost wanted to tell Lee too, something er. Similar. But I hesitated."
Carley glanced at me. "So you wanted to be a soldier?"
"Yup."
"I'm a reporter."
"Must've had some interesting news to share before this all happened."
"Oh yeah." Carley turned around, leaning her back against a wooden column with a chuckle. "Lots of stuff."
I saw Clementine pet the cow, Maybelle, while Duck chased Donnie around in the dark near the empty soda vending machine.
"I'm kind of jealous of you know, stole my thunder a little bit."
I was surprised by this. "Why?"
"It means I'm not the best shot in the group anymore."
I laughed quietly at this, Carley appreciated it.
"So about these experiments, how much did the project change you?"
I thought about the Gamer.
"In every single way. My metabolism, movement speed, visual acuity, combat skills, you name it, it all got a serious upgrade."
"Mm." Carley sipped from her beer bottle again. "Your vocabulary seemed to have gotten a serious upgrade too probably."
I laughed at this, Carley smiled.
"I meant to ask," said Carley. "You said you were from South Carolina? Small town?"
I nodded. "Mhm."
"Where are your parents? You look like you're practically right out of highschool, why not try to find them? Why not go off on your own? With the skills you've shown, why would you ever try to help anyone else?"
"Honestly?"
"Yeah, honestly."
"My plan could've been to blaze a path right to the CDC and get some revenge, or, figure out how to help make a cure. But frankly." I shrugged. "People would've needed my help, and honestly, and I'm not sure if the cure's even real. It's just rumors I heard when I was stationed there as a failsafe to the pathogen."
"Failsafe?"
"I think doctors were saying they wanted to come up with a serum or something that could counteract it. It was months ago, they could've been lying and I was eavesdropping."
Carley nodded slowly. "I want to continue my prior question."
I chuckled a bit as I finished my beer. "Go on." I liked how she phrased that so awkwardly.
"You mentioned your metabolism, speed, strength, all of that."
"Yeah?"
"So, every part of you, as a man, you said, fifteen or twenty times better than the average person."
"Yeah?" I asked in a more confused tone.
"So, every part of you."
Oh. Um, did she mean what she thought I meant?
"Um, I guess every part then yeah." Never had any complaints.
"Noted, thanks for the talk Marcus, again, 'preciate your honesty."
"Anytime." Carley and I nodded to each other.
The way she spoke to me reminded me of something I remembered from the first season of AMC's The Walking Dead. One woman mentioned that she 'missed her vibrator.'
A funny throwaway line harkening back to the times before the zombie apocalypse but still, it goes to show that everyone reacts differently to extreme changes in circumstance.
Besides, I was a leader now, in charge of keeping over twenty people safe and fed.
…
The following morning I began to run an office out of the old manager's office in the Travelier motel. I began to keep a paper record on every survivor the group started to keep track of.
It became my job to assign duties, watch guard on an old camping chair atop the RV in the parking lot, take care of the cow, the two kids, the horses, everything.
Other than the St. John's burnt to the ground with all the Molotovs I used, the entire farm was otherwise functional. The only thing we had to worry about was all the gas the generators needed to keep the electric fence up going bad eventually and having to find replacements.
The Greenes moved to the farm, making the distance between Maggie and I greater. I still saw them, but I think it was the best move. The horses needed space to graze, and we used them on supply runs. The distance between the St. John Dairy Farm we took over and the motel was about a fifteen minute walk through the woods.
With Bandits and Runners around, it honestly would've been a much more dangerous route, but with them gone after I cleared them all out, it wasn't anymore.
By day three, people began to make appointments to see me.
Doug was the first one, making requests to get special supplies to set up a makeshift radio station to speak to other survivors or get updates from whatever emergency government broadcast might be left.
This had the potential to be dangerous, but I told Doug I'd look into it.
I was in charge of trying to make the needs of each survivor met, as well as make the choices necessary for what to do. Rather simplistic, but I was the one choosing where to loot supplies to fortify the motel, where to scavenge next.
The list came rather in handy, and the first settlement we came across was the survivors of Stone Mountain High School in a mostly abandoned city about fifteen miles south of Macon.
No one except for four people who had made a makeshift camp out of a highschool gym had survived. Out of an entire town of several thousand people.
We weren't even greeted by raider arrow or bullet fire when Hershel, Lily, Carley, and I all rode in on the horses the Greenes let us use. Carley and I were sharing a horse, a dark brown mare, I didn't find it too awkward.
Travis, Ben Paul, a girl named Yulise , and their teacher David Parker were all added to the group. Lily didn't see much reason for them to come back with us but I disagreed.
They were alive, they were innocent people, and we could find work for them. I didn't care if they were more mouths to feed.
"What sort of work can we find for them?" asked Lily. "We can just add every single person we find Marcus."
"You bet your ass we will. If that means we need to work harder finding supplies so be it. They can help Hershel rebuild the dairy farm and start growing some crops."
Lily sighed. "Fiine. I'll guess I'll take all these people back to camp."
Travis stepped towards her and she shook her head atop her horse. "Uh uh. You." Lily said, nodding towards Yulise as her horse shifted a bit.
"Me?" the girl asked.
"Yeah you, hop on I don't have all day."
"Okaaay?"
She awkwardly joined Lily's saddle and she rode off without another word to any one.
Hershel on the other hand didn't say a word when Ben Paul approached, and he helped him onto his horse.
"Are you two going to be fine going to the next settlement?"
I checked the list. It was a truck stop just off the highway heading a bit further south than where we were, Lily's right, we didn't have all day.
I nodded quickly to Hershel. "We'll be fine."
Barely needing to spur his horse, Hershel took off with a light trot as Ben and Travis were left with us.
"Guess you two are stuck with us." said Carley behind me. "Follow us, we've got a few more people to find."
"Wait," Ben asked. "How'd you know we were here?"
I handed a paper to Ben who had to reach upwards to take it as I was still saddled.
Ben was confused. "How'd you make this letter?"
"I wouldn't worry about it." I didn't want him to stress out over bandits. "Point is, we have a truck stop to get to."
…
Travis and Ben grumbled as they were forced to walk a bit quicker ahead of us as Carley and I went off on a light trot down the single lane car road heading towards the highway away from the highschool.
"This is actually kind of nice." I heard Carley admit behind me.
"You sound surprised."
"I heard you sucked a riding horses."
I grinned. "Who told you that?"
I was surprised, feeling Carley's hands wrap around my midsection. "No one important."
"You talked to Maggie." I said reproachfully.
"So?"
"Nothing, just didn't know is all. I-"
I felt Carley rest her head against my back.
"Careful." I said calmly, still holding the reins to the horse. "These two highschool kids might get jealous."
"Think I care?"
I smiled again. "Nope."
I enjoyed the feeling over her resting against my back as we shared a horseback ride, being pretty nice. It was almost romantic.
I knew Maggie still had feelings for me, and instead of just holding me sometimes like this, she was playing mind games. Carley and I didn't even have sex yet, and already I felt like she was being kinder.
I hesitated for a moment, not wanting to give up just yet on Maggie at all, I think she was just adjusting to a new part of Georgia and moving with her family.
The highway was in sight, I accelerated my horse successfully and spurred it over to the linking road onto the road.
Carley didn't say anything as Travis and Ben had to jog quickly to catch up.
[You have leveled Horseback Riding to LV 47!]
[You have gained +450 EXP from improving a skill!]
"There might be Infected in these cars." I said, looking around at all the empty and useless husks of cars and killed Infected around. "Stay alert."
Carley and I drew our pistols, and Travis complained. "Don't you think we should get one of those?"
"Ever learned how to use one?"
Ben and Travis just looked at each other.
Carley sighed. "Jesus, you need to set up a training schedule when we get back."
"Wait, you're the guy in charge of a whole camp? Like a camp of survivors?" asked Ben.
"Yeah, why?"
"You're out on your own trying to find people to take back? Why not send other people? Why not go yourself?"
Carley leaned slightly to the right, making eye contact with me. "That's a pretty good question Marcus, why go yourself?"
"Um."
It was a small excuse to get to know Carley better away from everyone else, but really I just wanted to get away from the motel after a few days.
"I don't know, I like to take a hands on approach to leadership."
"Sounds about right." admitted Carley.
…
It took around twenty minutes, but we soon reached the truck stop. From outside, it already looked abandoned.
When we approached, I saw a red dot on my minimap. At least one Infected was nearby.
I dismounted my horse, tying it to a nearby metal hook built into the truck stop entrance.
Carley and I walked forward, guns drawn.
We heard something shift, and then the Runner revealed itself. It was a small child, a little girl with rotten cheeks to the point her trachea and jawbone were showing from the infection stumbled out of one of the broken down buildings. She appeared to be no older than Clementine's age, probably younger.
What normally would've been pity and sadness seeing the state of it, was replaced when I saw the way it turned. The hunger, the desire to consume no matter what it sunk its teeth into.
"Watch out!"
"Don't gotta tell me twice." Ben practically dove behind me along with his friend.
I raised my pistol, ready to shoot, Carley turned and saw it.
Instantly, I could tell she was hesitating, she was closer to it than I was.
With the speed the smaller Infected seemed to take off towards Carley and the fact that Carley hadn't already fired, it was clear to me: Let an undead small child live, or save Carley's life.
Bang!
I didn't even blink.
Hands just barely shaking, Carley lowered her pistol. "Thanks." she said in exasperation.
"No problem."
Ben looked so distraught by the kill he didn't he even appear to know what to say, Travis was white as a ghost.
Carley put her pistol away. "Killed plenty of those things, never one that looked that young."
"Even if they run fast, children aren't as strong or knowledgeable as adults when it comes to surviving. Unfortunate disadvantage."
I had to admit, given what I knew about the later seasons of Telltale's The Walking Dead and even the comics and TV show, they weren't utterly useless. Some of them were capable of being extremely resourceful, far beyond the capabilities of any child all things said and done.
"You seem fine." said Ben, in complete surprise.
"Yup," I slipped a bullet into the empty cartridge and spun the wheel back into my revolver. "That's what it takes to lead, Undead of any age or not, I'm not putting those I'm looking out for in danger."
It started to sink in to Travis and Ben why I wasn't going to be kicking my feet up in my office back at the motel instead of making sure I'd found every survivor I could out here.
I crossed the truck stop off the list. Ben and Travis found a knife as well as a useful truck tool lying around for weapons and then we started to head back.
"Someone shot this little girl, she was probably hiding." I explained, pointing around the truck stop. "Those are bullet holes, I can see some bullet casings. Bandits attacked this camp, made off with everything they could and um."
I didn't say the last part. Left her to die.
"Then, where are the bandits?"
"Gone," I said.
"How?" asked Travis.
"Marcus killed them," said Carley. "At least, judging by the supplies he brought back from a big raider base. Yeah, I'd say they're gone."
Travis couldn't stop looking at the dead Runner.
"Let's go."
Ben spoke up. "Travis."
"R-Right."
On the ride back, all Carley said was.
"That wasn't your first time shooting a kid who had turned right?"
"It was."
Carley didn't say a word afterward, I don't think she was judging me for it. Just distraught by it all.
…
We were eating dinner, and I was just finished speaking to Glenn and Hershel about the plans I was building.
"Hey, Marcus."
"Carley."
"Thanks for what you did today," she said. "I appreciate you, you know, saving my life and all."
"Nah, it was nothing."
"With how fast those things move, I'd say you at least saved me a huge scare."
I nodded. "You're welcome."
Carley walked off with a smile, I was glad she appreciated what I did.
…
As the next week began, I started a training schedule for everyone to practice rifle work and pistol shooting in the nearby woods.
I expanded the size of the survivor settlement we had at the motel, as new people started to show up.
A family of four, who admitted to being from the camp the bandits had scared off at the truck stop joined. Charles, also known as Chuck, was found sleeping in a boxcar in an abandoned train station we were passing through while scavenging, brought back by Maggie and Lily.
By the state he arrived in, he had been living in them since long before the outbreak.
Lily had been asking me for days to check out the old airfield base nearby, insisting it would be full of supplies and 'better' survivors than the 'useless' ones I'd found.
I ignored these comments, until Kenny and Lee chimed in over dinner and told me they'd be willing to go with me.
This mission was bigger, because the airfield base was a military target. The nearby fields were full of Runners, and even far away enough from Macon even new colonies of Bandits could appear.
A man with glasses named Mark and two others were the only survivors we found. It was on its last legs from being overrun by Infected and a biker gang out of the southernmost parts of Georgia.
What began was a snowball effect, soon enough people began popping up that I believe word began to spread I was starting a successful community of survivors. Likewise, not so friendly individuals could catch wind of this too, but we were prepared as well.
The walls of the motel became double shielded, we even had people walking around on the rooftops with hunting rifles.
Katjaa and Hershel helped deliver a baby calf, a male, and soon we could start breeding cows. Er, as messed up as it was, they were all we had, but eventually Hershel convinced me could find a bull if we searched hard enough.
I had designated everyone into jobs, and could only switch into different ones at my approval. Doug was good with paperwork and was pretty trustworthy so he became my secretary of sorts.
When he wasn't working in the manager's office of the motel with me, Doug and Otis were in charge of communications. Apparently, Otis had a small background messing with ham radios, I wasn't surprised, when I met him he was probably one of those people ready for the apocalypse before it happened.
Katjaa and Hershel would be part of the nurses, doctors, and medical group until we could find a real doctor, as admittedly, they were still veterinarians. They were also helped by Patricia, Beth, and a few others as well in order to take care of kids and manage any clothes, or building maintenance.
Lee, myself, Hershel, when his time allowed, Jimmy, Glenn, Lily, and several others were in charge of guard duty as well as being selected for supply runs, or missions specifically to bring back survivors from reports we got.
Doug and I were still working with the sheet the bandits had as well as whatever else people knew about to find people.
How did all these people eat?
Excellent rationing, the Gamer even gave me a [Logistics] skill that I had leveled to LV 43 after two weeks. Shawn Greene and the rest of his family were helping those I sent along to the St John's Dairy farm to raise crops, which had yielded successful results so far.
Everyone needed to stay busy, you had to either be practicing shooting, going on scavenging missions, helping build and maintain the farm and motel, all day from sunrise to sunset. Even folding clothes was a daily task I gave out.
By week three of running the entire community, not really a small group I'd built of twenty people just brought together randomly because of the Outbreak, now forty efficient, skilled survivors, I had developed an attack group skilled and large enough to start clearing out Macon itself.
The horde had thinned out during the weeks we'd been through here, rummaging what we could here and there. So with great weapons supplies and weeks of practice on missions and training, we cleared out Macon of any Undead in around two hours.
Two hours. Two hours and the Gamer gave me 15 LVs.
And that was that, Macon was born again. Enough people began to show up that we were able to start building walls, out of RVs, tents again, and just wooden palisades and then better structures.
It would take some time to move everyone from the makeshift settlement we'd start to build in and around the Travelier Motel, and the St. John Dairy farm, back to Macon.
In my manager's office, I had a map set out with flags, and a couple army guys and other miniatures out Doug had been able to find in our supply lockers.
It was a map of Georgia.
I had a large red circle drawn around the unpopulated parts of the northernmost parts of Georgia, it was likely a good place to start when we'd get to looking for the CDC.
Atlanta had a little green army guy sitting on it. So far, Rick Grimes was the only piece missing from my puzzle.
Far to the south were a few yellow flags I'd placed where bandits camps, biker gangs, and other unfriendly survivor groups were located. To the west of Macon was nothing, it appears everyone sort of just left, there was nothing out there.
The east was where I was technically from, South Carolina, no point in gathering intel there.
A previously retired doctor had been displaced from Savannah arrived with some cancer survivors and some elderly folk, a man by the name of Vernon who had issues with another community of survivors was welcomed to stay so long as he followed my rules.
I didn't trust him, given what happened with the boat, but the circumstances there during the turn of events in Savannah were different. Very different, and crimes were punished harshly.
As such, we had a very well rounded community. Duck and Clementine weren't the only children anymore, we had doctors and vets, a large body of soldiers and fighters for scavenging and sentry work. The only thing that was lacking was a strong legal system.
There were two previous lawyers in my new community, but not a single person so far had real police work. The only cop I knew of around here was currently in a coma.
I wasn't one to fuck with the military, given how the Last of Us portrayed them as capable of rebuilding what truly remained of a government, albeit a totalitarian one named FEDRA I think, after the outbreak. Even powerful enough to have their own resistance group opposed to them, the Fireflies. But I needed Rick.
I needed a lawman, someone who while I governed, could enforce the laws I created.
Granted, as of now, everyone pretty much knew that I had been able to carve out a relatively safe part of Georgia by myself with a decent bit of help. Not everyone knew the full truth, just the twenty original survivors from the Travelier's motel, but still.
I looked at the green army man in my hand. No one, not one person, a single person out of the dozens who had joined our group had any information of any sort on what was going on in Atlanta.
There was the emergency broadcast Doug and I found, but it was of course, heavily censored and completely lacking in what I wanted to know. How free were the citizens there?
Were they all living on the rooftops, was part of the city bombed? Were the Infected driven underground or all wiped out?
What was going on?
…
Another week passed, and I got less information than before.
Macon became declared as a Safe Haven for pretty much anyone living outside of Atlanta, and the community grew even further.
Doug, the two survivors who were lawyers, and Carley, who given her background as a reporter, was in charge of community outreach and communication to other groups, all helped me run what was a sort of government, in charge of all decisions and rules the community abided by.
I began to wonder, if the dead could run instead of just walking here, making them astronomically more lethal, why were so many of the people I knew should've died by now, actually alive?
It seems more like the villains I remembered from the Walking Dead game, Jake and the other bandits from Save Lots, the St. Johns, were all gone.
And then I realized something, only a handful of people were left alive in most of Georgia now, after a massive spike in an influx of survivors to Macon, people began to show up far less. And the reason why was because of just how many people had died or had turned.
I received word that nearly every single town was deserted, destroyed, or overrun with Infected.
Only the couple of biker gangs south of here were at all that was left of the entire state of Georgia. Eventually, the community that had sprouted up in Savannah went quiet eventually too, previously called Crawford, pretty sure either Runners or bikers got them.
Leaving us as the sole group on my information list that had grown tremendously over the past month.
I was sitting at my desk as Doug handed me a file.
"Supply and production report." he said, giving it on the clock always at eleven on the dot.
"Thanks Doug."
"No problem mayor."
I chuckled. "Is that the right term to use?"
"Well a lot of people live in this town Marcus, and you're pretty much in charge of it. I'd say you're a mayor of some kind at least." he joked.
I appreciated it. "Again, thanks Doug."
Maggie walked into the main office we had here in Macon's City Hall, rubbing the top of a panting Donnie's head near the front entrance before she walked in.
I didn't even say anything, Doug just saw himself out.
Maggie crossed her arms, sighing a bit. "Been a while since I've heard from you."
"Sorry about that." getting a pencil out and looking over the report Doug handed me. "Been a bit busy."
"Is this what it's come to, even after everything falls apart, still have to come knocking personally to get somebody's attention."
I smiled at her. "Absolutely not, what do you need?"
"I wanted to tell you about how things are going on the farm. My family actually feels safer here now than we felt back home, now that my father knows the whole truth of things."
I put the paper away. "That includes Shawn, is he doing better?"
"More or less. I was wondering if I could start working here in Macon full time instead of switching between St. Johns and stuff. I don't know if you and Doug have a formal request form I gotta sign or-"
"Request granted." I smiled.
Maggie smiled back. "Thanks Marcus."
"Can I ask why you want to stay here?"
"I was worried over how my family could settle in, and was feeling unsure of how I felt towards you after what you said about your past. But um, it seems like you've really proven yourself these days."
I understood her worries. "So, what does that mean?"
"I wanted to stay here, because I wanted to be closer to you."
"Really?"
Maggie circled the edge of my desk. "Mhm."
I had missed her a whole lot. I was relieved to see Glenn and her not really speaking to each other at all, and it made me wonder if she still had feelings for me.
When Maggie's lips met mine again, I was assured of how she felt.
I missed every inch of her, her hair, her beauty, her breasts as I felt them through her clothes beneath my hands.
As Maggie sat on my desk, I began to unbutton her plaid shirt.
When I pulled back from kissing her, cupping her sides and face, I saw someone in the doorway.
The reporter leaned off the wall, smiling. "Don't mind me, just not surprised is all."
"Carley?" Maggie raised an eyebrow, sounding completely confused. "What are you doing here?"
"Keep going," she demanded lightly.
"Um." Maggie turned back towards me, a little weirded out.
"I'm fine with it."
Maggie responded with a tiny nod, and I pulled her in for another kiss. I felt her hands grip my waist, and she began to wrap herself around me.
The further I went on, the more I realized this was turning Carley on.
"Don't be shy." I joked, running my hand up Maggie's bare leg and towards her inner thigh, hearing Maggie gasp when I rubbed a bit further in.
Carley took it seriously, however, drawing closer to me.
I was worried Maggie might get jealous when she saw me kiss another girl right in front of her, but she didn't say anything. Maybe because she thought this was all for fun? Maybe she still wasn't sure about dating me?
All thoughts were erased from my mind when Carley began to strip, and when she stood in simple black underwear in front of me, man, did she match Maggie in terms of hotness.
While she was very pretty, Carley wasn't nearly as beautiful as Maggie, and admittedly, Carley was a better kisser, likely more experienced. I don't know why, but I felt like Maggie liked me to hold her and touch her a bit rougher, just from the way Carley and I started to make out.
However, Carley had a body that was out of this world.
Large, round, full, soft and firm breasts, clearly bigger than average. And man her ass was perfect, bigger than Maggie's.
I had no idea Carley was this busty, surprising really and I didn't often look out of respect.
Man she drove me nuts, I drew Carley into a deep kiss, holding her dark locks, hearing her moan when I kissed her neck and slipped my hand against her panty covered cunt.
I gripped her ass beneath my hands and drew her in, sucking slightly on her nipple, hearing Carley giggle as both of them started to undress me now.
Fuck, what had the apocalypse making all these girls so horny?
Not that I blamed them. Nor minded.
Carley helped Maggie pull my pants and underwear down, surprised by what jumped out at her.
"Damn Marcus, were you this big before you went into that secret program?"
Maggie laughed, kissing near the tip. "I think she wants to write an article on you if things get back to normal."
"All my findings look good so far."
The heavenly feeling of having two absolutely gorgeous women kissing and licking all over my erection was probably pushing the limits of [Gamer's Mind] or some shit.
Carley kissed the naked, soft, and bare skin of Maggie's back and shoulders when she started to take me fully into her mouth.
Maggie's blowjob made me gasp, forcing to hide my moan as I knew my dog was nearby.
However, something had distracted him.
I could see him run towards the front gate, tail wagging, Donnie didn't leave my side unless something was going on.
I sighed, what terrible timing this had.
"Sorry ladies, think this has to wait."
Carley turned around, still gripping my shaft. "Dang, yeah a few people are gathering over there." she saw something happen through the window too.
"Should I-"
I shook my head to Maggie. "No, I'll catch up with you both later."
Faster than either of them could react I drew my clothes back up and was buckling my belt on my way out the door.
As I tied my revolver holster back to my waist, I was practically running to the front gate.
"What's going on?"
Otis shrugged at me, looking down at me front the palisade meant to support guards and spotters on the outer wall of Macon. "Some lady wants to talk to you. Think they're in trouble."
"What lady?"
"What?" Otis asked, holding his ear forward.
"Just open the doors Otis!" I said, Donnie sitting by my side.
"Well wait, I think-"
"Please, open the door!"
I really didn't need them to, but I was gladdened by the sight of Lee, Glenn, and Chuck all showing up, as well as a few others, already holding their weapons in case of trouble.
The two cars bracing the front gate were pulled forward, and the gate was open.
I was surprised to see a woman I recognized as [Lori Grimes] a [LV 35 Survivor] with a bloody man I recognized as Dale leaning on her.
A blonde woman, who I correctly recognized to be [Andrea] was bitten at the wrist, I saw this instantly. And this wasn't a normal bite, it was the first time I'd seen a Runner bite someone, but it already looked like the infection was spreading.
"Get these people some help," I ordered, as Glenn and a few others rushed forward.
"Hey, this one's bitten!"
"What!?" one of the onlookers said.
I spotted a Runner slip through the cracks in our defenses and with out attention brought to the newcomers.
It ran forward and sprinted towards Beth, who had been speaking to Ben and Jimmy.
The three teens shrieked, and I saved them with perfect pistol fire, barely needing to turn to fire.
Another one stumbled forward, and at full speed began to attack Glenn, he expertly dodged and used the training we all had. He used a leg sweep to get the Infected off its legs, and stabbed it through the brain with a long sharp knife.
"Get them outta here!" I recognized Larry's voice, a crowd starting to protest and make noise already.
"Otis, make sure to get everyone not on duty outta here." he was already doing so, him and the other people posted on the walls had drawn the walls forward, locking out the Infected. They also pushed back the crowds that had formed. "Ben, get Katjaa and Vernon, I need them."
"Wh-What!?"
"Now! You two go with her!"
…
Katjaa looked over Andrea's bite. "This wasn't from an animal."
She was sitting on a long wooden table we used to discuss topics and hold town meetings on the other end of City Hall, Vernon was finishing working on Dale's wounds, he barely looked at young Carl Grimes who was completely fine.
"And what makes you the expert?" A man who introduced himself as T-Dog said.
"She's a vet, she would know what an animal's teeth should look," Maggie said.
Andrea looked scared for her life, too afraid to speak.
I used [Observe] a skill so useful I was able to tell if shelves from supply runs were useful or not with a single glance.
[Andrea - LV 28 Survivor
Status: Infected]
Everyone started to talk over each other and I raised my voice. "That's enough."
They kept arguing and I hit the table so hard everyone jumped.
"I said, that's enough!"
"The boy and his mother are fine." said Vernon in a calm cool voice, wiping his hands clean of blood with a white rag. "That other fellow, I don't think he'll be walking for quite a while."
"And what do we do with this one?" asked Lily.
I had a moment to think. "Vernon?"
"The longer the bite is allowed to spread, the less chances she has of living. And the operation alone, while risky, is better."
"Wh-What operation?" asked Andrea in horror.
I made eye contact with Katjaa, I trusted her a bit more in these matters even if she was a doctor for animals and Vernon one for people.
With a tiny nod, I could see she agreed with Vernon, and I agreed with both of them.
"Everyone out! Lily, the windows."
Vernon looked through a nearby bookcase, and plopped a bag of medical tools on the table.
"Hey, you can't just- Hey!" T-Dog was being pushed out of the room by Lily before she shut the blinds.
Carl was being ushered out with Lori, the woman still trying to cover her boys eyes as we prepped Andrea.
She sounded afraid out of her mind. "What are you going to do!? Please, don't hurt me, I'll-"
"We're saving your life ma'am."
Andrea's eyes widened when Vernon drew a saw, starting to scream.
He didn't even blink an eye. "Marcus, if you would, anesthesize the patient."
It was the zombie apocalypse, we weren't a professional hospital.
"I'm sorry about this." I said to her, and in one blow I knocked her unconscious, having the [STR] stat of over sixteen people combined.
After taping her down to the table, Vernon got to work.
After applying an ointment over the upper part of her forearm, Vernon just began to use the bone saw. I saw her skin split apart beneath the blade, hearing an extremely uncomfortable bone saw literally chop through flesh as if it was a lumberjack against wood.
I saw Andrea stir, and as Vernon continued to saw, I saw Lily deeply uncomfortable. Andrea was bleeding out all over the table.
Lily blinked, almost looking like she was going to vomit. No matter how many Runners you can kill, I guess nothing can disgust you more than another living breathing person having their hand cut off right in front of you.
Andrea woke up, and began to shriek at the top of her lungs in pain and shock.
Katjaa started to hold her back down, Vernon's tape did its job, mostly.
Vernon's words were barely out of his mouth by the time I knocked out Andrea again.
"Marcus!" he ordered, realizing Andrea was out and could hold still enough.
Vernon was halfway through Andrea's second bone in her forearm when I heard a very loud crack in the room, her right hand was now hanging off the side of the table by a thick, red thread.
Lily opened the window on the other side, hurling.
I didn't blame her, Gamer's Mind was helping me through this greatly, and I could only imagine the things Dale must've seen because everyone else here had medical experience.
Vernon tied his gloved fingers around Andrea's elbow.
"Marcus, I need you to pull on that hand as hard as you can." ordered Vernon.
It came off almost instantly, and Katjaa was already there with rags, applying pressure.
I looked at Andrea's hand, it was clearly infected, all the tissue around the thumb was changing color, and not just a sign of a regular infection. No.
Whatever was changing Andrea's skin was very clearly unlike any sort of virus I had heard of.
After we were done bandaging the top part of Andrea's right arm, all removed from just below the wrist and all the way forward, Katjaa was checking her pulse.
There was a brief pause, and Katjaa spoke.
"She's stable."
I nodded.
Dale used some crutches to walk forward.
Andrea began to wake up, panting slightly, her forehead smeared with her own blood and sweat. "Is it over?" she asked through tears.
"Yes." Vernon was putting his bloody rubber gloves away.
"It's all good kid, you made it."
"Th-thanks-" Andrea said as Dale squeezed her hand. "I-"
She passed out again.
…
Dale gave us her blood type and she was spending a lot of time resting. Andrea wasn't waking up even if she was still breathing, and to keep things safe, we had hand cuffed her remaining wrist to the table built into the ground of the dining area of City Hall.
Everyone had been warded away from the newcomers, and they spoke to me.
T-Dog asked instantly. "Will she live?"
"She survived the removal of the entire infection." said Vernon. "I gave her some antibiotics, if she can survive the night. Yes, I think she'll be fine."
Lori breathed a sigh of relief, her, Dale, Carl, and T-Dog seemed very happy.
"However. There's another thing to consider," said Vernon. "While all of us have some variation of the virus because we all turn after we die. Being bitten is clearly different, at least from a medical standpoint."
"What do you mean?" asked Lori.
"A stronger form of the virus, or perhaps a dormant version that is activated. I'm still not entirely sure, can still make you sick and kill you."
"How can you be sure?" I said.
"Because I've seen it happen. A few of us on our way out of Crawford were bitten, one of them was stable for a week after they got their infected foot taken out. And they still turned."
"Would Andrea be luckier?" T-Dog asked.
Vernon shrugged. "I can't say. For now, no one is allowed to go near her except myself and Katjaa. After her wound heals and we're sure she's healthy enough, she'll be released and all of you will be free to leave."
Lily crossed her arms. "My dad won't be happy we kept someone bitten here."
"Well he's never happy so." I shrugged.
"You want to keep us here?" asked T-Dog.
"Yes."
I looked at their group quietly. "My name's Marcus, I'm in charge of everyone's safety here in Macon."
"They chose you?" asked Lori, clearly surprised by my age.
"Haven't let anyone down since." I said. "Could you step into my office, it's this way please?"
…
I spoke to Lori quietly, handing her a glass of water.
"Thank you." she sniffed, nodding to me.
"I want to know. What happened out there?"
"We'd been running from the military for days after we escaped Atlanta."
"Atlanta?" I hadn't met anyone yet from Atlanta, odd because it was weeks since the outbreak and it was such a big city.
"Yeah, a couple soldiers chased us through a storage facility where we were staying and we got cornered by Runners when Andrea got bit, and we were all separated."
I could finally ask a question I had for weeks. "What happened in Atlanta? No one knows a thing."
"It's a nightmare. My husband went into a coma before the outbreak, an executive order was issued stating all non PGU citizens were to be exiled, or executed. They were going to pull the plug on my husband."
I kept listening to Lori's story.
"I refused, and we were going to break him out of the hospital. It failed, but we still managed to escape."
"What's the PGU?"
"It's technically called the PGUSA. The Provisional Government of the United States. They took over the entire city and denied anyone entry or access. Said they were going to leave and firebomb everything they could if we didn't comply with every single one of their rules and the governor ceded control of the state to them."
"Why wasn't your husband a citizen?"
I withheld the fact that I already knew his name was Rick Grimes.
"To qualify you need to swear the oath, technically he was in a coma, and the PGU doesn't consider anyone sick or disabled to be of any use."
Hm, I hope the success of Crawford could teach them a lesson.
"How bad was it?"
"They make you swear an oath. If you're sick or old, you get locked up. Protestors or anyone who disobeys any kind of command from a trooper or official is hung publicly. They use ration cards, no one can carry any sort of weapon or contraband or stay out past curfew."
It sounded an awful lot like FEDRA.
I looked at her. "What was your plan?"
"Someone in our group got separated after we kicked him out. They were convinced they could find them towards the border with Florida."
"Their name?"
"Merle Dixon, his brother's a friend of ours, named Daryl."
I rubbed my chin.
Something told me Merle was currently in charge of the biker colonies. It was a common trope I think that when someone was lost, potentially dead, or cast out of the group, they eventually came back leading their own group among the Raider or Bandit variety.
Right?
"How many soldiers guard Atlanta?"
"I don't know. A hundred? Two hundred?"
"Thank you Lori, you can rest up for tonight, I want to hear more from you in the morning."
She nodded, smiled weakly, and left.
Now, my suspicions about Atlanta had been confirmed. I just hoped my suspicions about the virus weren't true either in regards to how severe The Last of us Made being infected was.
…
I actually slept at City Hall, using an old office as my bedroom.
Why?
Because it was comfortable enough, and sufficient rooms in buildings that weren't burnt, destroyed, or boarded up in Macon were hard to come by.
There was a knock at my door.
Both Carley and Maggie had come to visit me.
"It was a rough day today, thanks for coming to visit me you two."
"That's why I'm here." Carley smiled.
I sat down on the edge of my bed and reviewed some papers. Reviewing the mail I'd gotten after what happened with Andrea and the Undead who slipped in before Otis could tell me what was happening.
Carley sighed, looking at it. "Larry never shuts up."
"Horrible man," admitted Maggie.
"He's not entirely wrong," I said calmly. "I almost let several people die today."
"Amidst all the confusion, you took the cleanest shots before anyone else could move." countered Maggie. "My own sister was the one in danger, and you kept her safe."
"You keep everyone safe." Carley brushed my hair aside, pressing her lips to my cheek.
It was comforting to hear them say that, I trusted both of them, and their words were kind.
"As of today, one hundred and sixteen people live here. Lori mentioned even more people were separated from her group. I'm good at fighting and stuff, but even after telling everyone how I'm so good at scavenging and everything. Is that enough to keep everyone's trust?"
Maggie nodded.
I looked at Carley, surprised. "You're both okay with this?"
"You keep everyone safe. And fed, and without thirst. Far as I'm concerned you're doing your best."
"Even with everyone who was upset over what happened?"
"Hey," Maggie put a hand on my shoulder. "The new supposed government in Atlanta doesn't even take petitions. They hang whoever speaks out, you at least listen."
"That already makes you better."
I rubbed my face. "Bikers, new people bringing trouble with the army. And, I gotta keep everyone safe."
"You seem stressed, that'll all come tomorrow. For now, how about we help you destress?"
"You need it Marcus."
Seeing Carley's perfect rack sitting in her black lace bra, fuck yeah I needed it.
My lips parted from Maggie's. "Thanks, it means a lot you're both doing this."
"Oh don't worry." I felt Carley grope me through my gym shorts. "We get something out of this too."
"You use birth control right? Weird question, but I wanted to make sure."
Carley nodded. "Yeah, I never planned on having sex until today, but still. Hell no I'm raising a kid when the dead can run."
"Sides," chortled Maggie, starting to push my clothes down. "This is to make you feel better, to make us all feel better Marcus."
I felt Carley's tongue rub against mine when she closed her mouth over mine, they both quickly undressed me.
"Ach, you two are good." I groaned, feeling them both lick and touch my erection.
…
There wasn't much foreplay, I think all three of us were decently pent up and wanted to get right to business. Until today, I don't think any of us had sex since around the outbreak, besides the few times Maggie and I hooked up.
Carley's pussy wasn't as tight as Maggie, but still fantastic regardless. She rode me when we started off, and then I banged them both in different position.
Doggystyle, seeing their wonderful asses in their smooth, round, large, and naked glory.
"Hey, fuck me until you're all done okay?" asked Maggie, raising her soft right ass cheek with her hand.
"Me too." Carley said, groaning and spreading her pink pussy lips with painted fingernails.
I pressed the tip of my cock into Carley's cunt, and my fingers into Maggie's. Both girls yelled out in pleasure when I pushed forward.
This all felt great. So great, this really was just-
I felt myself become completely lost in the pleasure this all brought. The curves of their wonderful, warm, naked bodies. How tight they felt when I was inside of them, feeling every inch when I moved.
I could see Carley's big tits bouncing as I fucked Carley in missionary and helping Maggie finger herself as Carley screamed in pleasure.
Maggie then leaned over, helping her by sucking on her breasts.
To top it off, I rubbed her clitoris and started trying to reach as deeply inside of her as I could.
Again and again, and I even took her Maggie-mouth free nipple into my hand, feeling it hard between my fingers.
I could see Carley's back arch, starting to scream and I thrust as deeply as I could into her very quickly and hard.
"Oh, fuuuck!"
Carley began to twist slightly, shaking vigorously as she screamed out. It appeared she was a bit more of a squirter than Maggie, my cock was absolutely soaked when I pulled out of her. Guess that made sense, there was never a comical amount of fluid, but some girls came more than others.
With a post orgasm glazed grin on her face, Carley was pretty out of it for a moment.
I still hadn't finished, nor had Maggie, so I turned her quickly off the side of the bed, and laid her legs off to the side.
"Ah!"
Maggie gripped my bed sheets when I pushed into her quickly, and because I was already decently lubricated from before I slipped right in. Fuck I missed her.
Carley was great and all, amazing really, but Maggie felt impossibly good. So warm, wet, tight, and snug, going as deeply as I could after I sheathed myself inside her.
"H-Harder Marcus," begged Maggie with a lust glazed smile, cupping my face.
I obliged her, and felt Maggie moan very loudly, practically screaming.
I had the stamina and experience with this all to make Maggie cum, and then be able to orgasm inside both her and Carley who had barely recovered from her orgasm. I would never forget the sight of Carley and Maggie completely naked, post orgasm, with my seed leaking out of both of them around my bed.
Both girls laid out, tired, satisfied, a bit sweaty, but smiling next to me.
They curled up on either side of me.
"Shit, I had no idea how I much I missed sex." moaned Carley, moving her nose into the crook of my neck.
"I know how much I did." Maggie murmured, kissing my bare shoulder. "You should've joined us back at the motel."
"Believe me I thought about it, it's just the walls were pretty damn thin."
With how much I enjoyed this as Maggie drew the covers over all of us, this was more than just pleasure and stress relief from the insanity of today. We enjoyed the nudity of each other's warmth, and drifted off to sleep together.
We were going to fuck, to live, and for the future.
…
…
…
REFLEXIONES DE LOS CREADORES 
MiyazakiFan_18
MiyazakiFan_18 The preceding lemon was inspired by "Saya Rei" a classic HOTD doujin that gave that exact final line. It might be cheesy, but hey so are most hentai as well as some zombie related media in general.
That being said, my main objective with the lemons besides being hot is for each character to be in character with what we know from canon. OOC, or out of character is out of canon and that is definitely not my intention.
If necessary, I am willing to discuss a more formal upload schedule and ideas and feedback for the fic. If anyone's interested, here's the link to the new Discord server I made for this fic: https://discord.gg/Bh34rbWMCp
I included a comment on this fic if anyone wants to copy paste it for easier use on desktop.
So far the general consensus I've gotten is that Marcus needlessly lied for almost the entire last chapter when he could've given a decently believable explanation for his abilities. Which I hope I've fixed and will include an A/N I tried to respond to this chapter.
And two, that he levels up too fast and gets broken too quickly. Which I understand, but then again, I did write that the MC was "ridiculously" powerful in the description. It could undermine this fic as a survival story, but as another reviewer mentioned I want this to be character driven which I am trying to do.
As for the lemons this chapter, just wanted to quote it real quick as it seemed appropriate before Marcus slept with Maggie and Carley starting a…
I don't know if this will be a harem. There is only other girl I think could work here, Beth, and that would take a decent bit of time. Carol might work, but it would be tough considering the massive age disparity between all of them and her being decently older.
I'm still not sure. The harem will grow no larger than Lily, Beth, Carley and Maggie, if I decide the character dynamics are sustainable and organic enough for this chapter to be more than a one time event in the grand scheme of things.
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