Suffering: Male Reader x TWDG

Chapter 44: Let's Not Shoot The Messenger

You look down at your outfit and sigh. This wasn't exactly how you had planned the day to go.

After falling into a thick bog on your way through the forest, your Militia uniform was beyond ruined forcing you and the others to stop at the next town to find you new clothes. A quick glance at the broken mirror in the hallway of the second house you looted the wardrobe of confirms the true horror of the situation you're in.

"I look like an idiot" you say to Anderson, who's leaning against a doorframe. You're wearing an oversized grey hoodie and an old pair of ripped jeans, of which you're not sure whether they were designed to be ripped or if they were just destroyed by their original owner.

"It's fine, we'll get you a new uniform when we get back to Fort Summer" he says impatiently, "Now come on, we have a boat to beat".

You all head back into the forest and continue the trek towards Ericson's school. The school is very far away, over 100 miles, so as a result the majority of the journey was done by car.

"I wish the car didn't break down" Bear says glumly.

"It's not too bad, we got most of the way there" Hulk says, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

"It does mean we'll probably have to walk back unless we can find a working car" you say, letting out a deep sigh and looking down the river. You've been following it ever since the car broke down as if you used the road you would've had to walk even further as there is no direct route to Ericson's.

"What are we gonna do if the Delta catch us up?" you ask. Driving down the roads ended up being a more direct way to get to the school than the rivers and waterways so, in theory you should be miles ahead of the Delta. However, the car breaking down did slow things drastically for you all and now there's no way of knowing how close they are.

"I don't have an answer to that" Anderson replies, "We're supposed to get there before the Delta so that we can analyse the situation and see if we can stop them working together with the people at the school".

A low rumble from upstream interrupts Anderson and you all crouch down, making your presence hidden as much as you possibly can as you watch the river expectantly. 

A boat chugs into view. The Delta boat.

"Shit" Hulk sighs as it slowly makes its way down the river towards you.

"We're close to Ericson's, we can still make it" Bug says as you all make off in a mad dash towards the direction of the school, careful to avoid any prying eyes from the boat as it chugs along.

You crest a hill and your heart drops. A small wooden dock is laid out on the river and a couple kids, one boy and one girl, are stood nearby, fighting off some of the infected. "Oh so this school is actually run by kids?" you say, surprised at the fact.

The boy runs a hand through his shaggy blonde mullet and says something to the girl who nods and begins to follow him away from the dock and deeper into the woods.

"It seems they couldn't handle the infected" Anderson says, "This buys us some time to work on a plan".

You glance down the river to see the ship getting closer and closer towards the dock. "Shit, how many people do you think live at the school?" you ask the others.

"I don't know, why?" Anderson replies.

You gesture to your clothing and smile, "Because I'm their age and I'm not wearing a Militia uniform so I could meet with the Delta instead, assuming those other two don't come back in time".

The others nod at this and you pause briefly before continuing, "And assuming that their group is big enough, the Delta wouldn't know everyone who's from Ericson's. We'd just have to hope that none of the people from the Delta recognise me from the time I was captured".