The Rift

Chapter Fifteen: All Fall Down

"Woah, woah", I say, holding up my hands, "DJ talked to Lisbeth just today, and she said that she didn't kill anyone."
"Well she's lying", Matt growls, "Trust me, David.

"I don't know if I can", I tell Matt, "After all, you did pull a gun on Trevor in front of everyone and shot him in the leg."

"That was...a mistake. I was stupid", Matt says, sitting back down on the cot inside of the cell.
"They can't hold you here forever. We'll figure something out. Until then, sit tight."
I turn around and head for the basement door.
"And Lisbeth?", he asks.
I sigh, then I tell Matt, "I'll get to the bottom of it. But trust me when I say this. If she's really a murderer, I won't let her off easy."

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The stranger treads down the slick concrete road as the rain falls from the darkened and cloudy afternoon sky.

The towering trees sway in the storm breeze, and leaves swirl up from the ground and scatter everywhere. A clap of thunder booms across the sky, followed by bright lightning dancing from the clouds towards the earth.
The stranger carries their rucksack at their side, slowly getting a bit anxious to get out of the worsening storm.

Their dark colored combat suit shields them from the rain, the drops of water sliding off the clothing.

Up ahead on the wet road, a fallen tree blocks the stranger's path.

They stop for a moment in front of the obstacle, hearing a strange noise just in the other side.
The stranger uses their hand and foot to climb onto the log. They peek over the top through their gas mask to see what's there.
Dozens of walkers wander up and down the forest road, the tree blocking their path.
"Shit", the stranger mutters under their breath.

They climb down and think of what they can do. The stranger then spots a dead walker at the side of the road.
Then a lightbulb seems to turn on.

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"What?!", Grace practically shouts at me as we stand under the house porch while the rain falls down outside. She has on a white sweater with a hood and blue jeans. My gray jacket is soaked with rain, the pistol Evan gave me hidden between my shirt and jacket.

"Matt thinks that she's a killer, but we can't say for sure, Grace", I assure her, pulling her hand close to me.
"I'm just afraid of what'll happen if it's true", I add.

"You can't honestly believe him", Grace says to me, her glistening brown eyes looking into mine.
"I don't."
"Then why go through all this shit just because someone who shot Russ in the leg says that Lisbeth is a murderer?", Grace asks in a suddenly angry tone.
"Because we can't take any risks!", I try my best to keep my cool, "Murderer or not, Lisbeth is going to be asked some questions."

"Well, if that's how you want to treat an innocent girl, then fine. Go ahead. I'll be at the cafeteria talking to her", Grace mutters loudly to me.
"Grace...", I quietly say as she puts her hood up and walks out into the rain. I stand there on the porch, watching her head off to Main Street.

Running past her is Anna and DJ, both of them frantically hopping their way through the rain and over puddles.

"What's going on?", I call out to them from the porch.

"It's the south gate!", Anna shouts, stopping her running for a few moments, her black hair tied back in a braid dripping wet.
"It's about to give!"

Well that's not good at all.

I hop down the porch and into the rain, ignoring the water falling onto my hair.

I follow DJ and Anna to the south gate, where dozens of walkers are gathered, putting pressure on the metal barred gate. A truck has been placed against the gate, hoping that it will support it long enough for Lauren to come up with a plan.
Lauren, Eli, Theo, and a guard named Ricardo stand around in a circle. Eli has his katana with him, and Lauren and Ricardo both carry semi automatics.

DJ, Anna, and I step forward as Lauren loudly tells all of us, "This storm is getting worse, and now this gate is about to break loose. I have a plan to draw the walkers away, but we need volunteers."

"For what exactly?", Eli asks her over the chorus of snarls coming from the horde of walkers, the hood of his navy blue jacket soaked with rain.

"We use gunfire to draw them away, it's pretty simple. But first we need to find a way to make sure that this gate does not break way", Lauren says.
A sudden snap from one of the bolts holding the gate in place catches our attention.
The gate is starting to break away from the wall.

"Fuck", Ricardo mutters, staring at the snapping bolts as rain drips off of his goatee.

The gate begins to fall inward, and the truck seems to be the only thing keeping it from completely falling down.

The seven of us back up quickly as the gate snaps off of the concrete wall and starts to lean on the truck. The walkers just on the other side try reach their arms up to maybe climb up onto the gate.
"Well, what the bloody hell do we do now?!", Theo shouts.
"That truck isn't gonna hold forever", DJ sternly tells us.

Lauren curses under her breath, then turns to Theo and commands, "Theo, run around Haven and tell everyone to find shelter!"
Theo turns on his heel and runs off toward the streets.

"What can we do to keep the truck from being crushed?", I ask Lauren, rain dripping off of my hair and chin.

"Well...we can-", she starts, but she is cut off by the roof of the truck caving in from the heavy weight of the gate and the swarm of walkers.
We watch in horror as the corpses climb over each other to get to us.

One walker makes it over the gate and falls down from the top of the gate, and Eli quickly steps forward and sinks the blade of the sword through the top of its skull.
He yanks the blade free and steps back, as other walkers climb over and drop down.

I pull out the silver pistol Evan gave me and aim it at one of their heads and fire, killing one.

"There's too many for us too handle!", Anna shouts over a clap of thunder, "We need to rethink this plan!"
The truck creaks and the windows shatter, sending glass everywhere.
Several walkers get to their feet and limp toward us and even more climb over the gate.

Eli slices the head off of one and incapacitates another, stepping back to avoid being swarmed.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!", Lauren shouts, a wild look in had eyes and water dripping from her blonde ponytail, "Let's just get back!"

We follow her away from the scene as a swarm of walkers starts to form.

Ricardo, falling behind, slips in a rain puddle and hits his head on the concrete.
I stop running and watch as he turns just in time to see a walker wearing an old construction worker uniform lunge forward and claw at his neck.
Ricardo screams at the walker digs its teeth into his ear, blood spilling onto the concrete.

I turn around and follow the others toward my neighborhood.

This is really happening. There's walkers within the walls.

And there might not be a way out of this one.

Late night chapter cause I was bored before having to go to sleep