The Walking Dead: A Broken Empire

[N1] Chapter 7: The Final Fall ("Give me the gun.")

Chapter 6 RECAP
After Javi and others are ambushed and pit up against the harsh nature of the apocalypse, their reality focused more on the imminent danger laying before them. Struggling to stay afloat, they are left with many losses which leads Dave's sanity to drain even more than before. Death lingers around them and Javi is forced to pick up the remains before the inevitable final fall.

"Dave," Javi comforted, "Just give me the gun. I'll do it."
"No," Dave stopped, "He would've wanted me to- to.. Do this.."
"I can do it Dave. You shouldn't have to do this to him. You were two were too close." Javier replied.
"Okay.. Okay." Dave agreed.
Dave slowly handed over the pistol to Javi.
"Thank you, Javi." Dave gratefully stated.
Dave watched as Javi slowly aimed the pistol at Ripper's corpse. Javier slowly pulled back on the trigger, before pausing for moment.
"Our time together was short, but I don't doubt for a second you were a helpful man. You probably helped saved plenty lives and you were Dave's good friend. I'm sorry about this." Javier said to the dead man.
Javier pulled the trigger and ended the chance of Ripper coming back as a walker. Javier handed the pistol back to Dave as he put it back in his holster.
"Thank you, Ripper. Without you, I wouldn't have made it this far. I'll make sure your death wasn't in vain." Dave said.
"Well, now what?" Javier asked.
"We keep walking, towards Clarance." Dave stated.
"What about Woodton? You ever heard of that place?" Jonas asked.
"No." Dave replied.
"It's a community built around docks, it's pretty nice. We could make it there in a day if you wanted to." Jonas said.
"Well I don't. We are heading for Clarance. So, let's get out of here. I don't want to stay." Dave said.
With that, the group walked away from the factory to the nearby treeline and towards the sunrise.

A few hours later, the group made their way out of the deep woods and onto a road, leading to some houses sitting in the country soil. The sun warmed their backs as they walked over to one of the abandoned houses on the road.
"Well, might as well see what we can find in here." Dave said
The group agreed and entered the beat up house. The group searched around, only to find two bottles of water sitting in the main floor living room. The room was comprised of a couch, a coffee table, a bear-skin carpet, a chandelier and a fireplace.
"Well shit. What a comfortable place to live. Bet it used to be nice before the world went to shit." Dave said.
Javier agreed as he looked around and spotted status leading to a hallway on the upper floor.
"Hey, there's more to this house besides this living room." Javier stated.
"You're right. You and Terrence go upstairs and inspect the shit. Me and Jonas will look more around here, see if we didn't miss anything." Dave said.
"Alright." Javier and Terrence agreed.
Javier and Terrence made their way up the stairs and into the hallways which led to a door. Javier walked over and turned the handle.
"Damn, it's locked." Javier stated.
"Well who the hell locks a door?" Terrence asked.
"I don't know. Looks like the only way in is by breaking it open." Javier said.
Javier kicked his foot into the wooden door, to no avail. He tried again, which led to nothing except a sore foot.
"Hey, Terrence, come help with this." Javier asked.
Terrence walked over towards Javier and prepared to kick down the door.
"Alright, three.. two.. one.. now!" Javier said, as the two kicked the door.
"Damn it, damn it!" Javier yelled.
"Well, it budged a little," Terrence said, turning the handle on the wooden door, "Just a little more power behind this and we could have it opened in no time."
Javier stood up tall and inspected the door.
"Okay," Javier said, "You turn the handle and push on it and I'll run from back there and slam into it, that should work."
"I hope so, I'm getting tired already." Terrence said.
"Yeah, you're starting to look a little sick." Javier chuckled.
Terrence nervously looked around.
"Yeah," Terrence stuttered, "Could use some Tylenol or some shit."
Javier backed up and took a deep breath, before charging into the door and breaking it open. Terrence and Javier both fell on the floor.
"That's gonna leave a mark." Javier joked, while wincing in pain.
Javier noticed a long, scratchy bloodstain from Terrence's arm. Terrence quickly stood up and rolled down his sleeve.
"Woah, you okay man? Did you land on something over here? Your arm looked pretty cut open!" Javier said.
"I know, it's fine, I'm fine." Terrence nervously said.
Javier walked around and inspected the room and near the door.
"There's nothing here that could've hurt you that bad, not even blood or skin anywhere." Javier said.
Terrence was holding his arm and was wide eyed when Javier came over to him.
"Let me see how bad it really is." Javier demanded.
"No, no. It's fine." Terrence disagreed.
Javier suspected something was off while staring into Terrence's eyes.
"Wait a half second, no. Show me that!" Javier yelled, while tugging on Terrence's sleeve.
"No! Javier, knock it off!" He screamed, just before Javier managed to lift the sleeve up. Javier's jaw dropped as the wound was revealed to be a bite.
"You're fucking bit?! Holy shit!" Javier yelled.
"It's nothing. It doesn't matter." Terrence said.
"It doesn't matter?! How could you hide that from us! When did it happen?!" Javier interogated.
"Before Bill got shot, I saw him wrestling with some guy over a gun. I was running over to help him when I got knocked over by a few walkers. I thought I killed them all near me until I got attacked by one in a bush. I didn't even know it bit me until after I killed it. That's when I turned around and saw Bill.."
"Jesus," Javier sighed, "We gotta let people know."
"No, you keep quiet about this." Terrence commanded.
"But you need help! With more people around it could help you survive instead of just yourself and only that." Javier informed.
"It's too late for that now. I'm gonna die, it's just a matter of when. I wanna help you guys as much as I can before I turn." Terrence said.
"We gotta try something, Terrence!" Javier yelled.
"What are you gonna do, cut it off and hope for the best?! That rarely ever works, I've seen so many people die horrible and painful deaths from that instead of just leaving it alone and having more time without that pain," Terrence said, "This ain't up to you. It's up to me."
Javier and Terence walked back downstairs into the living room.
"Find anything?" Dave asked.
"Nope," Javier replied, "But there's another room we didn't check yet."
"Well you guys sure made a ruckus up there." Dave said.
Then, the group all quickly heard the knocking at the door. Dave quickly pulled out his pistol and went over to examine the noise at the door. Dave inspected through the peephole as the knocking continued.
"Two people. A man and a woman. They don't look like they're from Mathis." Dave stated.
"Don't let your guard down." Javier stated.
"No shit, Javi!" Dave yelled as he pulled open the door and aimed his pistol at the couple.
"What the hell do you want?!" Dave bellered at the two.
The strangers raised their hands up high in defense.
"That's a strange way to greet someone." The man said.
"Shut the hell up and answer my fucking question!" Dave demanded.
"Dave, take it easy." Javier added.
"No, fuck you Javi! I don't know who the hell these people are!" Dave replied.
While Dave was distracted and was facing Javi, the man grabbed the pistol being aimed in his face and disarmed Dave. The tables were then turned as the man walked toward Dave, aiming the pistol at him. The rest of the group raised their guns toward the strangers.
"Now then, hopefully we can try this all again. Don't do anything dumb, I'm not here to shoot you unless you make me. Let's not have it come to that." The man stated.
Dave backed up with rage in his eyes.
"We came here to say hi, we live in the other house across the road," The woman stated, "We don't usually get many visitors around here except for the biters. We were wondering what you guys were up to, seeing if you guys were good people. So far, it doesn't look that way."
"That's it?! That's why you came here?" Dave asked.
"No," the man interupted, "We came here to see if we could team up. It's better to survive in groups. We also wanted to ask if you guys wanted to come with us."
"Where?" Dave asked.
"A community, our friends are there. We know where it is too, but we need some help. We heard things went sour at the place and we need some helping hands to protect ourselves in case the same goes for us." The man informed.
"Well what is this community?" Dave asked.
"It's called Clarance." He replied.
"Holy shit, why didn't you just say so?! We were on our way there too!" Dave said.
The man lowered the gun, "Really?"
"Hell yeah, we stopped here to grab some stuff before we all leave to go there." Dave said.
"Not all of us." Jonas said.
The man handed back the pistol to Dave.
"Well then, if it's alright, we would be glad to join your group." The woman asked.
"Of course, what's your guys' names? Mines Dave, that guy over there is Javier." Dave said.
"We uh, don't really say our names. But you can call me Phil and you can call her Mary." The man said.
"Well alright then.. Phil. Glad to have you with us." Dave replied.
"You guys find anything in this place?" Mary asked.
"We still have one more room upstairs to check out." Dave replied.
"Well then let's go see what we can find, huh?" Phil asked.
"Sure, everyone go upstairs." Dave commanded.
The group all started to walk upstairs while Javi and Terrence slowed up.
"I need to sit down for a minute." Terrence said, as he laid down on the couch.
"You tired? Fever yet, anything?" Javier interogated.
"Not yet" Terrence stated, "Don't forget what I said Javi. Keep the bite shit between us, no one else needs to know."
"It's dangerous to just leave the bite there without anyone else knowing." Javier said.
"Just keep quiet." Terrence reminded.
Javier nodded as he made his way up the steps.

Javier walked inside of the other open door into a room filled with papers and folders.
"Looks like an office, or what's left of it at least." Dave stated.
"Yeah." Jonas replied.
"I found a cigar! Damn, I haven't seen a cigar in forever!" Phil yelled in excitement.
"You smoke?" Dave asked.
"Nah, not really, you want it?" Phil asked.
"Sure, I'll take it. I could use one. Maybe I'll save it for a special occasion." Dave said as Phil handed him the cigar.
"Cuban." Dave said aloud.
"Not really seeing anything else in here except paper." Mary said.
"Any matches?" Dave asked.
"Yeah, this box was sitting next to the cigar." Phil said, holding out matches.
"Do they still work?" Dave asked.
"I don't see why not. Try it out on that cigar." Phil stated.
"Nah, I'll use it another time. But all these papers and a match could maybe stated that fireplace downstairs. Javier, grab some papers and take these matches downstairs, see if you can't light that shit up." Dave commanded.
"Alright." Javier agreed as he took the matches and paper, and made his way downstairs while the rest stayed.
Javier dropped the pile of papers into the fireplace and grabbed the matchbox.
"Hope this shit works." Javier said.
Javier grabbed a single match out and placed it at the side of the box. He striked the match down the side, which seemed to only cause a fizzle of smoke from the match's tip.
"C'mon!" Javier whispered.
He striked the match again, which led to it starting a flame. He tossed the match into the fire place which housed the papers. They started to curl and burn, quickly igniting the rest of the papers. The small ashes seemed to dance in the wind as the wood stated to heat up.
"Nice." Javier said, before turning around to Terrence.
Javier walked toward the couch and saw Terrence sitting on it. Terrence was starting to look very dark and sick.
"How you holding up?" Javier asked.
"As good as I can be... I guess." Terrence replied.
"We should've done something." Javier said.
"Don't.. worry about it. I'm just.. getting a little sick.. that's all." Terrence said.
Javier turned around to the footsteps coming downstairs. It was Dave and the rest of the group. As they were making their way over to Javier, Terrence turned to Javi.
"Don't tell them... About it.. remember not to.." Terrence whispered.
"Hey guys" Dave said, walking closer to Javi, "Damn, nice. Let there be light, eh?"
Dave then noticed Terrence sitting on the couch, hunched over.
"Damn, is he okay? He looks like shit. You alright there, Terrence?" Dave asked.
But the here was no response from Terrence.
"Javier, what's wrong with him, huh?" Dave asked.
Javier started to ponder on what to say next.

Terrence's pleadings rang in Javier's ears like a doorbell. Though, Terrence was bitten and was a risk to the group that could cost someone's life if left unknown or unmonitored. Javier had to speak up and tell Dave something.

(Confess to Dave)

(Lie to Dave)

Your choice will be reflected on the next segment. Chapter 7 will be continued.
REMEMBER to click [N1] to keep your previous choices intact!

*I don't usually do this, but since this next chapter/segment is going to take a little more time, I feel like leaving you guys a few hints on what could happen next in the story. Read below to see a sliver of dialogue that will occur in the next parts, as well as the next chapter's description.

"You son of a.. you actually went and did it!"
"Go to hell Dave!"
"You think I should just let this shit slide huh?! I'm going to make sure you don't ever mess up again! I'm going to make sure this group stays alive and I'm going to make sure that you do not interfere anymore, Javi."
Guns are aimed wildly and a shootout occurs.

As trust diminishes through the group, Dave is left at his sanity's end. With the death of more people, Javier tries to step in and save the group. The problem is, they're too far gone and Dave has some very different plans. The tables turn as betrayal runs rampant.