Beside the Dying Fire

Gavin's POV

I sat back against cell walls where I had sat before. Hannah sat across from me, but Tyler still stood at the door, waiting for Sarah, Leo, and Henry to return. After about 15 minutes, the door flew open. Two men walked in, supporting an injured Henry. I got back up and joined Tyler as we looked at him through the bars. They sat him down in a chair and lifted up his shirt, revealing a bloody bandage around his gut.

"Ugh, why didn't Johnson just let us kill him right there?" One of them asked the others. "I mean, the other shot Billy, Thomas, and Roger. Why would we have to fix him up?"

"Because Johnson has this 'Big Plan' for him," the other used air quotes to express what he was trying to emphasize.

"But I don't feel safe with him around."

"Then screw Johnson. Blast that boy's brains out."

Henry's eyes widened as a gun was pulled out and held to his forehead. He was too injured to fight back. All he could do was let it happen.

"What the Hell are you two doing?" a man who we assumed was Johnson swung the door open and got a glimpse of what was happening.

While the other two men tried explaining, Henry and I whispered a conversation.

"Are Sarah and Leo okay?" I asked him.

"I don't care, and neither should you," he responded harshly. "They left me for dead."

"I'm sure they didn't-"

"SHUT IT!" one of the men yelled.

Johnson passed by both guards and walked over to Henry.

"It must be hard having your friends abandon you," he told Henry.

Henry didn't respond.

"It's okay, your in good hands here."

One guard took this as a signal and walked over to our cell. He put the key in the lock and unlocked the door. Johnson looked over at the man.

"No, we won't lock him up again."

The guard hesitantly removed the key, forgetting to shift it back into the locked position.

"Get me the shovel," Johnson asked a guard. The man ran off to get the requested item while Johnson continued. "Henry, after something like that, we can't possibly keep you confined in here. We'll set you up with the shovel of yours that we took when you were taken and we'll send you on your way out of here."

"B-but why?" he asked.

"We know what it's like to feel this way. Now we should get you going before the sun sets."

The man returned with Henry's shovel and Henry used it like a cane as Johnson escorted him out of the building.

"I get it now," one of the remaining men said to the other.

"What?"

"Why we had to keep that boy alive. Did you hear what he sneered at those in the cell? He wants revenge on those other two. Revenge goes a long way, long enough that he might go back, saying he will kill them, but actually kill the entire city."

"I guess that makes sense. Should we see if Johnson needs help?"

The other nodded and they both strolled away.

Once I was sure that the room was empty, I creaked the unlocked cell door open. I led Hannah and Tyler back to the room that I saw the one man get the shovel from. I opened the door and discovered an armory. Tyler picked up a knife off of a table along with a .357 revolver that I knew he had no intent of ever using. Hannah chose a machete and a Glock 18. I found my claw hand sitting on the far side of the room next to a 1911 handgun. We all made sure we had ammo and left.

We burst open the door and took off running around the building. Whilst in the cell, I could hear vehicles pulling up through the brick walls. Sure enough, a decade old Honda sat all snowy. I opened the driver's door and found the key on the seat. I started the vehicle, but a soft shriek from Hannah made me get out of the car. She lay on the other side of the car with a walker on top of her, trying to bite her. I ran over and kicked the walker off of her. As the corpse lay on the ground, I stabbed my claw hand into the biter's skull, ending it.

We all got into the car and I drove off. I followed the tire track that I assumed that Henry had left on his way back to the city to kill Leo and Sarah.

I looked over at Hannah, who was in the passenger's seat. She was clenching her shoulder awfully cautiously.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"I'm fine, I hurt it when the eater brought me to the ground," she spat with rage in her voice.

"Are you sure? You look in pain and that walker was right on top of you."

"I SAID I'M FINE!" she yelled at me.

I remained quiet for the rest of the drive. After about another 30 minutes, the signs for San Diego were in sight. Soon enough the gate was, too. I drove up to the gate which was wide open. I didn't even have to drive inside to see Henry. As he beat someone's skull in with his shovel, I could see Antonio holding Savannah back and Cameron refusing to look at the mess. We were too late to stop Henry from killing someone. I knew he would hurt someone else if I didn't act. I shifted the gear back into drive and floored the gas. I veered right for Henry as he was still beating someone to death. Once he noticed me, it was too late. I hit him head on and he rolled over the vehicle, cracking the windshield.

We all vacated the car. Henry was still clinging to life even though he was out cold. I walked over to the body. It was a male's body, so I could at least assume that Sarah was okay. The face was so mangled that I couldn't tell it from Leo, from Danny, from Kai, from anyone. The only thing I could tell was that they wouldn't even get to come back as a walker.