Risen from the Grave

Now I'm somebody new

A/N: ... long time no see, huh? so um, no update tmrw (probably) cuz im getting a needle jabbed into my arm (so fun) and im terrified of needles so yeah, probably gonna struggle to do anything. ANYWAY hope u enjoy this chapter, lil less sad than before (i hope), tho it is a bit shorter. LOVE YA BABESSSSS

"The fuck did you just say?"Willie asked, standing up and gripping his knife. Owen got up as well and creeped behind Mitch, murder in his eyes.

"I'm just saying, he wasn't the greatest person,"Mitch argued, getting defensive and placing his hand on his own knife. "And maybe he deserved to die.""What in the world makes you think that, you dickhead?"Willie replied."He treated Max like literal shit, and spread rumours that he was abusive. That sounds like an asshole to me.""That's a lie,"Willie defended, his eyes tearing up. I stood up and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. "Alex was a good person.""He was a shitty father-" Mitch was soon cut short by Owen hitting him around the head with all his might, knocking him out cold."How dare he talk about him like that,"the kid said, kicking the man one more time for good measure. Luke just sat there in shock, still processing what had just happened."I can't believe it,"he whispered. I sat down beside him and gently rubbed his back. "I see my dad again and he turns out to be... just awful.""I can't imagine how you must be feeling right now,"I said, struggling to know how to comfort him.

Hours later, Mitch finally woke up again, and we had him locked in one of the spare cells, with barely enough food and water to last him two days and no weapons. The remaining people in our group were gathered around a table, a map in between us all, and line drawn from the prison to Ryan and Ben's base. "Should we all go?"Julie asked, glancing over at me. I looked around, thinking of who we'd leave behind. My eyes landed on Luke, who was clearly in an emotional state, and not in any position to be fighting."Luke,"I addressed, getting his attention. "Do you want to stay here?""No,"he answered, eyes watery. "I want to avenge Alex just as much as you all do." I nodded, rubbing his shoulder gently."Well then, it's settled,"Julie continued. "Let's go kill those motherfuckers.""We can't just leave Mitch unattended,"Dad mentioned, gesturing towards the man we'd locked up. "We either have to take him with us, or kill him." My eyes once again wondered over to Luke. Everyone else followed suit, looking at him, expecting him to decide whether we should kill his own father or not."None of us know him like you do,"I told him."We leave him,"Luke said, straightening his back. "If he dies, he dies. If he escapes, he escapes. He can't follow us, not if we drive. And we should find somewhere else to stay anyway. Somewhere more homey. I don't like it here, and I can't imagine any of you do either." I nodded, squeezing his shoulder.

We set off a soon as possible, driving the few hours towards their base, armed with guns, knives and whatever else we could find. I was in one car with Luke, and Dad, Julie, Owen and Willie occupied the other. "That was really brave of you,"I told Luke, resting my hand on his knee. He smiled at me, making the butterflies in my stomach go crazy again."Thanks..."he replied, his voice barely above a whisper. "I just... it breaks me to know my dad is like that... I wish he was like yours... I like your dad a lot.""He's great, isn't he?" I gently rubbed his knee, silently reminding him how much I care about him."Sometimes I think about how different things might be if Reggie was still here,"Luke wondered out loud, gazing out of the window. I felt a sharp stabbing pain in my heart, remembering how awful I was to Reggie, and how I could've saved him had I tried a little harder. "I wonder if we would've lost the people we lost. Maybe Caleb and Alex would still be here too... maybe he could've protected them.""I tried,"I said. "I tried to protect them. It was impossible, Luke. Those men had power over us, I don't think Reggie could've changed that.""I think he could've. He took care of me through the impossible-""He wasn't superman, Luke, and I don't know why you see him like he was,"I snapped. "If they could've been saved, I would've saved them.""You could've saved Reggie but you didn't.""You could've too if you weren't such a selfish pick-me bitch. You can't do shit, Luke, you're fucking useless, I don't know why we've kept you alive so long,"I replied. Luke went silent, and I instantly regretted what I said. "Luke I didn't-""It's fine,"he interrupted, looking out the window and pushing my hand off of his leg. "I get it. I am useless. It's not like I saved your damn sister and Willie or anything. It's not like I cared for Owen whilst you were off trying to save a man who ended up dead anyway. It's not like I ensured we held on to some kind of sanity whilst trapped in a fucking prison. No, no, I'm just useless and you should just kill me now-""Luke don't say that-""C'mon Bobby, just fucking kill me if I'm so useless-""Luke no-""Just crash the damn car Bobby, why don't you? I'm just so useless-" I slammed my foot on the brakes, stopping the car and I watched Dad's car continued on, not realising we'd stopped."Luke,"I stated, turning to face him. "You are not useless, and I'm not going to fucking kill you. You did so much shit to keep us going.""But you said it yourself, I'm useless. I wasn't killing the infected,"he said, tearing up. "I wasn't saving lives.""You give me hope, Luke,"I replied, taking his wrist. "You're the reason I'm still going. Because in you... in you I see a future. I see what we can still do, even with the world like this. And that... that's something nobody else can do for me. You remind me that there's good people out there, that there's people worth fighting for. You are worth fighting for, Luke. You always have been." Luke finally turned to face me, smiling gently."You mean that?""Of course I do. You mean everything to me, and I'm sorry I said those things. Reggie was an incredible person who probably could've changed the outcome of things. And you're not selfish. You never have been.""That's good to know,"he replied, laughing gently. "We should keep going,"he added, turning his attention back to the road. "Otherwise they'll wonder what happened to us."

We took off down the road, and eventually passed by the cul de sac we once owned. I sped up past it, hoping Luke didn't see the pile of bones lying beside where Reggie had been buried, the dirt disturbed and pulled up. I also hope he didn't see the few infected leaving it, the bones licked clean of any flesh and blood. Soon, we caught up to Dad and the others, who'd pulled up near where the abandoned car used to be. "I think this is the right place,"Julie mentioned, coming over to me as I exited the vehicle."It looks about right,"I said, looking around at the trees."So... what's the actual plan?"Dad asked. I thought for a second, realising all we had was to barge in there and smash their heads in, but that didn't seem very smart since we were severely outnumbered."We could sneak in?"Willie suggested. "I dunno, maybe through the window you guys used before?" I glanced around at everyone else for any other ideas, but it seemed we were dry."Looks like we're sneaking in then,"I finalised, grabbing my gun and starting to make my way through the forest, closely followed by everyone else.