A New Beginning

Encounter

AJ and Derek pull into the neighborhood. "It's perfect." AJ says. AJ stops the car and puts it in park and takes the keys out of the ignition. Derek and AJ get out of the car and they look around. "That's a big house." AJ mentions pointing forward. "That's a mansion. Someone rich must've lived there before this mess happened." Derek responds. "What should we search first?" AJ questions. They look around and notice six houses and the mansion. "Smallest to largest. I'll search the houses on the right and you take the left. We'll meet at the mansion." Derek suggests. AJ nods and they separate and begin searching.

Derek's POV

Derek begins searching the first house and decides to search on the main floor. He first checks the kitchen and notices some canned food. "Yeah!" He says to himself and grabs the food and places them in his bag. He continues to search. He found a couple of knives and places them in the bag. After he's finished with the kitchen, he checks the basement. It's dark down there. He pulls out his flashlight and turns it on. He begins walking down the stairs hoping to find something good. He turns the corner and notices a room on the right. He enters inside and finds a Remington shotgun sitting there with five boxes of shotgun shells next to it. "Hell yeah." He says to himself. He grabs the shotgun and checks to see if there's any shells inside. There's none. He grabs a box and opens it and notices fifteen shells. He places six in the Remington shotgun and takes the rest of the shells out of the box he grabbed and sticks them in the inside pocket of his leather vest. He grabs the other boxes and sets them inside the bag and continues to search the basement. Nothing he can grab. He walks up the stairs and makes his way to the garage. He opens the door and notices a walker. He approaches it carefully and hits the walker in the back of the head with the butt on the shotgun. The walker falls and Derek begins slamming the gun on the walkers head until it finally dies. He gets up and searches the car that was placed inside. Nothing. He checks the car for gas. He approaches a hose and a gas can and walks back over to the car. He grabs the hose and inserts it in the gas tank and begins sucking. Gas rises and he places the hose into the gas can as the gas begins filling the can. He smiles. "This just might be our lucky day." He says. Derek hears no more gas sliding into the can and he takes the house out and closes the lid. He grabs the cover of the can and twists it completely. He carries the shotgun and the can in his hands and proceeds to head to the next house.

AJ's POV

AJ enters inside a house and begins searching the main floor. He first checks the living room then the kitchen. He finds canned food and a new pistol with two boxes of bullets. He places them in his bag and heads upstairs. He notices two kids rooms and instantly feels sad. "Mom, Dad, I'm sorry." He says to himself. He brushes the depression off and searches the main room upstairs. He notices a bow and some arrows and immediately remembers Jeremiah and Clementine. He grabs it quickly and places them inside his bag. He searches the rest of the room and found nothing else. He exits the house and continues to search the next one.

At the Mansion

After twenty minutes, AJ and Derek make their way to the mansion. "Find anything useful?" AJ asks. "I found a lot of things." Derek says with a smile on his face. "'Me, too." AJ replies. Derek and AJ stare at the mansion admiring it. "Wish we had one of these back at home." AJ says. "So you could live in it and feel like a king?" Derek jokes. "No, not just me. Anyone that wants to live in it." AJ replies. "Let's search this place. I bet it has good things inside." Derek says to break the silence. Derek and AJ enter the mansion and immediately begin searching. "Everything is fancy in here." AJ says looking around. "Damn right. Bet this asshole lived like a king." Derek replies. "I'll take upstairs. You stay here. We'll search the other areas together." AJ responds. Derek nods and begins searching while AJ heads up the stairs. He notices four bedrooms and two bathrooms. He enters inside a room and notices that it was empty. He shrugs and enters the bathroom. He completely admires it and notices how beautiful it was. AJ leaves the bathroom and enters inside the other rooms and notices they're empty. He checks the last room upstairs and it was packed. King sized bed, tons of shelves, a closet, and a nightstand next to the bed. He approaches the shelves and opens the drawers and checks inside. He finds tons of clothes that'll fit people back at home. He grabs them and places them in his bag and heads over to the closet. He opens it and notices tons of military coats. He grabs one and holds it out. It was dark blue and had gold buttons on it. He grabs the coat and begins wearing it. He goes over to the mirror and looks at himself. "Looking good, AJ." He says to himself. He checks the nightstand and notices three handguns with seven boxes of ammo and a knife. "Score!" He yells. He places his bag on the bed and grabs the boxes of ammo and stuffs them in the bag along with the pistols and the knife. He runs out to the hallway and heads downstairs and notices Derek by the door. "Find anything?" Derek asks. "Yeah I did." AJ responds. "Nice jacket." Derek jokes. "You really don't like it?" "I'm joking. Come on, let's leave." Derek and AJ leave and begin walking to the car. "How do you think the others will take everything that we found?" Derek questions. "They'll love it. We have more weapons, food, ammo, medicine, clothes. We have everything we need." AJ responds. "We should check downtown before we go home." Derek replies. "Where is it that you assholes call home?" A voice is heard behind them. Derek and AJ immediately turn around and aim their guns at the stranger. The stranger seems to be very fit, as he seems to be 6'3. He has long, blonde hair and a big grey beard. The man wears a tank top and blue camouflage pants with black military boots. The stranger stands there with a Colt 1911 handgun aimed at Derek and AJ and instantly notices AJ wearing his coat. "That's my coat, you deadbeat." He snarls. AJ looks at the coat. "I'm sorry. I didn't know that this was yours." "I bet you dicks took more of my stuff!" The man yells while aggressively shaking his gun. "We took what we found in the other houses. We didn't take anything from your mansion." The stranger isn't convinced. "Fucking liar! I seen you two assholes enter my home and loot my stuff!" He yells. "Listen, we're gonna get going now before we do something we regret." Derek says. "You're not going anywhere." The stranger approaches the two. "Stay right where you are!" AJ orders. The man still continues to approach them. "You two pussies gonna shoot?" He questions. Derek and AJ then look at each other then back at the man and they lower their guns. The man smiles and runs at them, punching AJ in the process and ducking Derek's hook. AJ falls to the ground and the man tackles Derek. AJ gets up and puts the stranger in a headlock as he chokes Derek. The man elbows the AJ in the stomach and headbutts his jaw. The man gets up and focuses on AJ. AJ begins throwing combos in which the man dodges and blocks every attack and grabs AJ's arm and tosses him to the ground as he holds his arm while AJ screams in pain. Derek gets up and attempts to swing at the man but got kicked in the stomach before he swung. Derek falls to the ground. "Now listen to me, you're going to take me to wherever you call home and let me take whatever I want, or I'll just kill you." The man aggressively says to AJ. "Fuck you!" Derek yells from behind. The man glances at Derek and then back at AJ. "What's it gonna be, bitch?" The man questions. "Fine!" AJ yells. The man releases his grip and waits for AJ to get up. AJ begins heading over to Derek until the man stops him. "No! You do NOT help this piece of shit up!" He yells. AJ still continues to approach him until the man pulls a gun out and holds it to AJ's temple. "Start walking." The man says in a dark tone. AJ grits his teeth and stares at Derek. Derek nods and AJ turns around and heads for the car. The man smiles. Derek gets up and grabs both bags while the man grabs Derek and holds the gun to his head. The three get in the car. Derek sits in the passenger seat and AJ sits in the driver seat. The man sits himself in the back seat and aims his Colt 1911 to Derek. "Let's see what you cunts stole." The man says and begins searching the bags. He finds his handguns and takes one out. "You sons of bitches." He says. He smiles and holds the other handgun to the back of AJ's head. "Drive." He orders. AJ sits there and looks in the rear view mirror and stares at the man with hatred. "NOW." The man sits up saying with hostility. AJ inserts the keys in the ignition and starts the car and begins driving back to Alexandria.