Fear the Roaming Dead

The Walls of Jericho (chapter 20)

"Those bastards!" Aaron screamed. The wailing noises of roamers rose around the air. They were heard grumbling and growling. The gate was being slammed over and over by what sounded like a hundred roamers. Tinley sprinted towards the platform and the quickly climbed up it. She scattered up the ladder and ran to the edge of the wall. She jumped down and looked at the mob of dead people creating a rave around the wall. She felt the wall shaking and wobbling from the hundreds of roamers walking around.

"There are at least a hundred of these things!" Tinley screamed. Sam's heart pounded over and over. She began sweating and feeling uneasy. Sam quickly sat down on the steps and put her head in her arms. "Sh*t, sh*t,sh*t!" she screamed. Dex backed up into the medical building and kept the door open.

"How do we fight back!?" Tinley yelled. Aaron backed up. "We can't. We need to find an escape route." he said walking towards the mansion. Blaise looked at the welding stand by the mansion. He pointed to it. "Aaron," he yelled. Aaron turned around. "What?" he asked. "Can I use the anvil?" Blaise asked. "Knock yourself out." Aaron said as he stepped inside the mansion.

Blaise kick started the furnace and took some chains from the rack. He set down a black baseball bat tied to his backpack down on the anvil. He warmed the chains up a little bit and then tied them around the baseball bat. He wore heat resistant gloves. Next, Blaise took some studded plates and lined them up along the bat. He nailed them into the bat. He took some spare nails and hammered them into the back. After the process, the baseball looked like a bumpy metallic weapon of destruction.

Blaise unsheathed a giant broadsword from the other side of his backpack. He unzipped his backpack and took out brass knuckles. He tossed them into the furnace and waited for them to get malleable. He then welded the metal onto the hilt of the sword. He cooled it down with some water and lifted the brass knuckle blade in success. He sheathed both weapons back to his backpack and put out the furnace. The roamers will still restless on the other side.

The wall was leaning a little bit.

Tinley was inside the medical building helping Dex with the medicines. She grabbed every pill bottle and jammed them into the duffel bag. The pills made a soothing rattling noise. Dex gasped a little and then quickly sat down in the chair next to them. He inhaled heavily and exhaled. Tinley bent over next to him. "Are you okay?" Dex nodded. "Just having some trouble staying up. I'll be good." he said. He popped a painkiller and sighed. Tinley finished shoving the pills in the bag and she zipped it up. Tinley strapped the duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbed Dex by the hand. "Come on. We got to get to Sam. She's inside the mansion with Aaron. They're gathering weapons."

"Only gather pistols and assault rifles! We don't need high caliber rifles or shotguns because those won't be as effective as these." Aaron said. Sam looked at all the guns. She scratched her head and sighed. "You can get them. I don't know what to do." Sam said with her arms crossed. She was sweating and shaking.

Sam walked towards the balcony. "I'm supposed to be the leader of this place. It's about to go down. The walls are about to come down crashing like Jericho. These roamers are relentless." she said tearing up. Aaron smiled and patted her on the back. "It'll be okay. If the walls go down then they go down. We'll find a new place." Aaron said.

"But I've worked so hard for this. We lost Cam. I can't lose anyone else." Sam said. "Don't forget about Wally. We lost Wally too." Sam scoffed. "No one cared about Wally-"

The night had fallen quickly. The group took time to prepare. The only sounds were the crickets chirping, the boombox rumbling, and the sound of the wall creaking.

The walls made horrible noises. The dirt beneath them began lifting up. Dirt puffed into the air and clouds of gravel and sand rose into the air like clouds. The wall left of the gate began falling inward. Slowly and gradually getting more faster until the all they could hear was the loud metal clanging of the walls crashing into the chicken coop. They heard squawking and then silence. The silence was then followed by roamers making a permanent stay at Norridge.

Aaron gasped. "Get downstairs! We have all the guns we need!" he grabbed Sam's hand and they both sprinted down the steps. Sam and Aaron busted down the mansion door and Dex and Tinley were already sprinting towards the barrack's vehicle. Blaise was in the drivers seat. He was honking and waving. "Get in! Hurry! There are hundreds!" he yelled.

Tinley yanked Dex towards the back of the vehicle and loaded him up into it. Aaron jumped in the passenger seat and Sam jumped in and joined them in the back of the vehicle. Blaise pressed his foot into the pedal and the vehicle launched forward. They reversed a little until they saw the open wall. Blaise put the pedal to the metal and sped. He plowed down every roamer that got in his way until they reached the outer skirts of Norridge. Tinley, Sam, and Dex looked out of the back of the vehicle and watch the angry pack of roamers follow them.

Sam was slouched in the seat of the vehicle. She was crying loud tears of pain. Tinley said next to her and put her hands around her. Sam was bawling extremely loud and shaking uncontrollably. "I couldn't stop him! We couldn't! Now he's destroyed everything I've worked so hard to achieve!" she cried. Tinley patted her on the shoulder. Dex was awkwardly sitting across from them trying not to make it worse by saying something stupid.

Sam looked up and wiped a tear. "Y-You don't understand. I practically lived at Norridge before this. Now it's all gone." Tinley patted her on the back. "Hey, hey. Get some sleep. We stayed up half the day packing and preparing an exit. Sleep. You'll feel better." Tinley smiled. Sam looked at her. "I don't want to sleep!" she cried. "Well Dex and I are. So you'll be bored if you don't." Tinley went serious. "For real though, get some rest. You'll think better."

Tinley stood up and sat next to Dex. She leaned on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Dex leaned on her head and smiled. "Goodnight." he said. Sam smiled at laid her head back. Her eyes got heavier and heavier. The pace sway of the truck had her eyes getting even heavier. She closed them and before the knew it...

She felt the truck stop...

Sam jolted away and it was daylight. The sun was cresting over the horizon. She looked at Tinley and Dex who were still asleep. She leaned forward and noticed the the vehicle was completely stopped. Sam stood up and knocked on the glass. Aaron slid the glass window open and shushed her. "Look." Aaron pointed.

Sam leaned out of the passenger seats of the barracks truck to see large walls. Walls a little bigger than Norridge. There was a gate they were in front of and a human standing behind the gate on a platform. She wore a white lab coat and had her hair in some kind of pigtail. She was smiling and looking at Aaron intensely.

Sam read the sign underneath the woman. It read 'Welcome to Aviana'. Sam scratched her head. "Ma'am. Where are we?" Sam asked. The lady looked at her and smiled brighter. "Hello. It's good to have visitors. Your at Aviana. It's a community and a safe haven." she said with some suspicion in her voice. "Who are you guys?" she said.

Aaron stepped out of the vehicle and smiled. "I'm Aaron. That in the vehicle is Blaise. The three in the back are Sam, Tinley, and Dex. We just came from a community that broke down. We met these bad people who sent a herd of roamers to it. The walls came down."

Aaron paused a little,.

"You think we could stay here until we repair it? It shouldn't take long." Aaron asked.

The woman hesitated but nodded. "Yes. You can."

Sam spoke up. "Ma'am. We never got your name!"

The woman looked at Sam and smiled. "Sorry, where are my manners?"

"My name is Veronica McKenna. But you can call me Yang."