Planet Undead (Book 2)

Seven - Stronghold

Finn's group and Peggy leave the gas station and they start walking through the forest. Margo signs to Kimberly about the idea of Pamalon and Kimberly signs back to her that she's excited about Pamalon. Five minutes of walking goes by and a horde of roamers run into Finn's group. Finn tells his group to get out their weapons and Finn starts killing roamers by stabbing them in the head with a pocketknife. Peggy uses her bow to shoot arrows at the roamers and she hits multiple headshots while Anna swiftly slashes some roamers with a machete. Tiffany protects Sheldon as Cameron and Margo use silencer guns to kill roamers. All the roamers are almost gone when one roamer sneaks up behind Tiffany and the roamers bites Tiffany on the hand. Tiffany cries in pain as she sits Sheldon on the ground and Finn looks an awe as Tiffany kills the roamer that bit her. Finn's group successfully kill the horde of roamers and Tiffany falls to the floor as the group huddles around her. Finn starts to cry as Tiffany thinks of an idea. Peggy starts to tear up as Tiffany quickly takes off her jacket and she lays the jacket on the ground as she rests her bit hand on the jacket. Finn asks her what she's doing and Tiffany pick up the machete with her other hand and she says to Finn "Making the right decision" and Tiffany proceeds to chop off her bit hand. Tiffany screams in pain as Cameron and Margo cover Kimberly and BJ's eyes while Finn close his eyes as he doesn't want to see Tiffany in agonizing pain. Tiffany finishes her hand amputation and Tiffany passes out due to shock. Finn cradles Tiffany as Anna wraps Tiffany's bloody stub with the jacket. Kimberly is horrified so she runs away from the group as BJ runs after her. The group helps Tiffany regain consciousness as Kimberly runs more and more away from the group. Kimberly runs onto a dirt path and all of a sudden, a car drives towards her and the car stops beside her. Kimberly is confused of what the driver wants but the driver gets out of the car and puts a bag over Kimberly's head as the driver puts Kimberly in the trunk of the car. BJ finally makes it to the dirt road and sees Kimberly getting kidnapped so BJ yells for the group to come help. The driver gets in the car and drives off with Kimberly as BJ falls to his knees in shame. Finn tells his group to follow the car and Cameron vows to kill Kimberly's kidnapper. Kimberly wakes up tied to a chair inside a treehouse with her kidnapper giving her lunch. The kidnapper takes off the duct tape on Kimberly's mouth and she immediately start screaming for help. The kidnapper puts down the lunch and shockingly starts to do sign language to talk to Kimberly. Kimberly is shocked that he knows ASL but Kimberly tries to play nice so later, she can catch the kidnapper offguard and she can escape. The kidnapper signs to her that Kimberly is about to eat lunch and Kimberly can't use her tied up hands so she verbally asks for the kidnapper to tell her his name. The kidnapper says that his name is Ardwin Lynch and that he will not hurt her. Kimberly is rightfully terrified but she hides what she's feeling so she can get on Ardwin's good side and eventually make a swift escape. Ardwin starts to feed Kimberly her lunch which is multiple slices of steak. Kimberly scopes around the treehouse room to find anything that could help her escape and she spots a broken family portrait photo on the floor with Ardwin and his daughter on it. Kimberly asked what happened to the portrait and Ardwin starts to tear up. Ardwin says that his deaf daughter Rachel died a couple weeks ago from a roamer biting her and how Ardwin had to put her down. Ardwin has not been able to move on from her death while Kimberly loves seeing her captor in visible pain but she lies and says that he deserves better. Ardwin says thank you and he feeds Kimberly more pieces of steak. Kimberly genuinely thinks the steak tastes good but she won't show her appreciation. Kimberly spots a lantern and a bloody butcher knife on the ground so Kimberly's plan is gaining Ardwin's trust by mourning his daughter's death so eventually he will untie her, she will slice his throat with the butcher knife, she will knock the lantern over causing the treehouse to burst into flames so she can escape and Ardwin slowly burns to death. Ardwin starts to devour the juicy steak while Kimberly tries to set her plan into motion by verbally telling Ardwin that she is going to pray that his daughter is in a better place now. Ardwin appreciates that she is going to pray for his daughter but Kimberly verbally tells Ardwin that she can only pray when she has her two hands together. Ardwin gives her the benefit of the doubt and Ardwin goes to untie her. Ardwin unties her and Kimberly immediately kicks Ardwin in the balls and she runs to the butcher knife. Ardwin tries to run after her but she grabs the butcher knife and slices Ardwin's wrist as she swiftly goes behind Ardwin and she slices his throat open. Ardwin falls to the ground as he bleeds and Kimberly goes to knock over the lantern but Ardwin tries to get in her head by signing to her that Finn and his group aren't the type of people to put her trust in. Kimberly signs to him to shut the fuck up but Ardwin says that Finn and his group are murderers and that they will eventually leave Kimberly behind to die. Kimberly still doesn't believe him so when she lifts her foot up to knock over the lantern, Ardwin threatens her by signing to her that if she knocks that lantern over, she will end up just like Rachel. Kimberly is confused by this threat while Ardwin points to the steak that Kimberly ate and enjoyed. Kimberly put two and two together that Rachel never died from a roamer but that Ardwin killed his daughter and cannibalized her. Ardwin starts to laugh at Kimberly's revelation and Kimberly throws up on the ground as she remembers that she genuinely thought the steak tasted good. Ardwin signs to her that he ran out of food and that he did what he had to do to survive. Ardwin signs to her that this treehouse was Rachel's favorite area to play in. Kimberly looks in disgust as Ardwin also signs to her that he was planning on eating Kimberly too because she reminded him of his daughter Rachel. Kimberly throws up some more as Ardwin laughs. Kimberly sees Ardwin slowly dying to blood loss and she doesn't want him to get a painless death so Kimberly finally signs to Ardwin "Go to hell." and Kimberly kicks over the lantern, setting the treehouse on fire. Kimberly retreats out the treehouse as Ardwin eats the final piece of the steak and he smiles as he burns to death. Kimberly runs through the bare front yard as Finn's group finally finds Ardwin's treehouse. The group is met with the site of the burning treehouse but Cameron and Margo are more focused on hugging their daughter Kimberly. Margo sheds tears at the fact that her daughter is alive and safe as Cameron signs to Kimberly if the kidnapper did anything to her. Kimberly actually signs to Cameron and Margo that she was the one that killed the kidnapper. Cameron and Margo look at each other with a worried look on their faces but after, they hug Kimberly because she was so mature and brave in handling that situation for just an eight year old. The group celebrates Kimberly's bravery and the group goes back to walking to the Orlando International Airport as the burning treehouse crumbles to the ground.