The Walking Dead: Purgatory-Survivors' Tales

No Rescue

This story takes place before the events of The Walking Dead:Alone

They're everywhere.

Those...things that were once people. At least, I think they were people to start with. There's just so many of them. It's almost sundown, and I don't think they can see us in this auto shop. Thomas is in the corner of the room, sobbing. Duncan is helping Gordon block the door with anything heavy. My mom Lucy, is arguing with Gordon's wife, Mary, for some reason.

Let me just explain who exactly these people are. Thomas is about five or six years-old, and we found him a little while ago just as he was about to be killed by one of those things outside. Duncan is African-American, and he helped us get here, so he's cool in my book. My mom and I have known Gordon and Lucy for a long time now. They're an older couple, and we all met up to get to rescue.

I'm Matt. Before this all started, I was just an ordinary teenager, living a normal life in the city of Buffalo, New York. Now, the dead have risen to feed on the living.

What do we all have in common? We are all struggling to stay alive.

"Matt!", my mom calls, "Come over here please." I close the shutters on the window and walk over to Mom. She's finished arguing with Mary and looks a little concerned about something. I have the same blonde hair as my mom, and I have glasses, but I don't really like to wear them.

"Matt", she calmly says, "Why don't you go and talk to Thomas?"

"Mom", I start, "I'm sixteen. I don't know how to talk to little kids."

I may be exaggerating, but it's true. I'm an only child, so I have no idea how to talk to five year-olds. Mom gives me a "oh come on" look. I sigh, and walk over to Thomas in the corner of the room and kneel down next to him.

"Hey, Thomas", I say, "Are you okay?" Thomas slowly looks up and shakes his head. I look over to my mom, who's watching, and I give her a "what now?" look. She just shakes her head. Out of options, I ask Thomas, "Why were you by yourself Thomas?" He looks me straight in the eye, and says shakily, "I-I was with m-my parents. They w-w-were supposed to be holding my hand, then m-monsters came and...and..."

Thomas starts to sob even louder now. I decide to give him some space. Well, that could have been better. I climb to my feet and walk over to Duncan and Gordon, who have finished barricading the door.

"So how are things?", I ask them.

"Besides the dead walking", Gordon says, "I'd say that things could be better. I mean, what if they do manage to get in here? Where would we go?"

"Well", Duncan starts, "This here minivan could make a quick getaway." Duncan points to the minivan inside the auto shop. I guess that somebody was working on it or finished working on it when things started falling apart.

Duncan continues, "So Gordon, I know that you're a little old in the bones and everything's falling apart out there, so what would you do to protect Mary?"

"Anything", Gordon replies, "I'll die before one of those things lays its hands on Mary." Duncan nods in understanding, then he asks me, "What about you, Matt?"

I just simply say, "I would do anything to keep my mom safe."

All of a sudden, we hear gunshots. Lots of them. We all rush to the window to see where they're coming from. I manage to see a small group of military soldiers outside. The dead outside, one by one, fall to the ground. We all knock on the window to try to get their attention. One soldier aims his rifle at the window, but puts it down when he sees us. He gives a little smile, but it quickly turns to agony as one of the dead bites his leg.

We can only look on in horror as the soldiers struggle to kill the things around them, but more keep coming. Soon, they are overcome by the swarm of the dead.

Mom and Mary start to cry a little, and Duncan and Gordon just look shocked. Me? I'm just completely shocked. They could have been the last military soldiers to ever walk on this planet, and they just died. There is silence until Gordon says, "We have to get out of here."

"And go where, Gordon?", Mary says.

"Somewhere safe", Gordon says, "Somewhere that those things can't get to us."

"We can try New York City", Duncan says.

"No", my mom says, "It's too far."

"What about Philadelphia?", Gordon asks.

Mom continues, "It's closer, but how will we get there exactly?"

"That", Duncan points to the minivan inside the auto shop. "Then what are we waiting for?", Mary exclaims, "Let's go."

Gordon and Duncan get the car ready while Mom and Mary load up the bags of supplies that we brought with us. I'm chosen to get Thomas. He's stopped sobbing, but he's still sitting in the corner. I kneel down next to him and say, "We have to go Thomas."

He slowly nods and climbs to his feet. I then hear the start of an engine. Mom, Mary, Thomas and I pile in the minivan while Duncan and Gordon open the huge door of the auto shop. The dead notice us and shuffle towards the car. Duncan takes the wheel and drives us out of the building, and away from the countless dead.

About an hour passes and we're all exhausted, so everyone except for Duncan fall asleep. Well, except for me. Suddenly, Thomas shifts around and looks at me from the seat next to me. "You should go to sleep, Thomas", I tell him.

"Matt?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we'll ever be rescued?"

I sigh and say, "I don't know, just go back to sleep." Thomas turns away from me, hopefully trying to sleep. I just look outside the car window, hoping that one day, this nightmare will end.