The Dead Are Among Us

The Plan

"Rylie, Rylie wait!" Guage called trotting after me, I kept a steady stride towards the barn opening that would allow my horse to enter comfortably. "Rylie, please just talk to me." I Stoped spinning on my heels to face him, he had Cowboy's lead rope in his grip they both stopped as I did. "Why didnt you say thats why you wanted to leave so quickly this morning?" He asked sympathetically. "Because Guage, I dont know you like that, we've only just met, and because I dont care." I said as my eyes began to sting again. "Look, I know you dont really know me well enough to vent to, and in this kind of world you cant really trust anyone, especially someone who's showed up with a girl like Blair, from a present-day concentration, slave camp. But you dont have to sit here and tell me that you 'dont care'. I know you care about him, or seeing him with her and thinking what you thought wouldnt have hurt your feelings so bad, and its quite obvious he cares, or he wouldnt have just busted my lip for being with you. He was absolutely terrified when we got back, you could see it in his face, he didnt know what you were doing with me, but I'm sure he was more worried about your wellbeing since your injured and what not. It was just a misunderstandingt." The things he said made a little sense, I wouldnt take it so far as to say he 'cared about me, but then again, who was I to know. "Now, let me see your shoulder, your bleeding again." He said, it only took him pointing that out to realize that I was in fact bleeding pretty heavily onto my beige sweater, "Shit, this is not gonna come out,." I complained, Guage just lifted it slowly probing it with his fingers, "You didnt pop the stitches out this time, just reopened the wound in the corner right here, you'll be fine if you'll just sit still for a little while." "Ok, lets just put the horses into a stall for the night, and we'll head back to the house. We have to be very carefull though, I would hate for the walkers to smell me again, if there are even any left."

Dawsons POV**

"I really fucked up man, I really did it this time, and its all your fault!" I said pointing my finger at the trouble starting whore. "Take it easy D, Your not gonna solve anything by going on a rampage and trying to fight everyone within a 15 yard radius of her." Kaiden said trying to calm me, It wasnt working. "Its her fault, everything was perfectly fine untill this slutt practically threw herself at me." "Hey dont knock it till you try it!" She laughed a devious laugh. "No one wants to 'try it' Blair." Drake said to her, causing her to frown and stomp off to the office, wich had been turned into a makeshift bedroom for the two as well, making this a four bedroom home, with a full laundry room, and four bathrooms. "I wish we wouldnt have even brought her with us, she fit in perfect with charlie's gang of sluts and pigs who just grabbed a different one on the way to the bed every night." Drake spat shaking his head angrilly. Moments later Rylie walked through the door along with Guage, he looked at me and nodded his head. Rylie pulled the bow off from around her shoulders and sat at the bar, leaning it against the smooth marble countertops. "Okay, we all know its only a matter of time before Charlie shows back up, and theres no telling how many men he will bring along this time, he will stop at nothing to get me back for killing so many of his men, and he will take all of us back with him; the ones that make it that is. So does anyone have a Plan?" She softly tapped her fingers on the bar. searching the room for ideas to flow. "I do." a small voice spoke from the darkness of the hallways, Rachel stepped into veiw blushing as all eyes went to her. "Well?" Guage (her brother) encouraged her to speak. "Well, he will most likely think that you have been smart enough to take kaiden and the horses and leave from here, so he'll be looking for any sign of horse shoe prints on the rodeside to indicate your location, he'll want to track you; But little does he know, we are here now, making seven individuals in total, now I myself dont have all of the details worked out, but I figured this would help you (She pointed to Rylie) to devise a full on plan. An ambush." Everyone was shocked to hear such quiet little Rachel give out such vital information. "Yes, thats perfect." Rylie exclaimed, by now Blair had even gathered around the livingroom-kitchen area to hear the plan we all had in store for the next few day's, "Charlie always waits three days between attacks." Kaiden spoke, "Good, thats the kind of thing we need to know, that gives us all day tomorow to prepare for whatever the monster has in store for us. "Okay, so heres the final plan. When he comes, he will be searching for any leads or clues as to what or where we have relocated ourselves. He thinks it will be just me and kaiden, I told him Dawson had been bitten and I had to kill him, so hopefully he will not bring all of his men. We will split into working groups, Diversive killer: wich will be me bacause he is looking for me, Hidden killer: wich will be my eyes and ears and cover my ass- Dawson and Guage, alerter: wich will be the one who waits for them to drive by down the road hiding in a wooded area the signal shot should be three shots into the air Blair, the vehicle manipulator- Drake, and last but not least the diverters- Kaiden and Rachel. Does everyone understand their jobs tomorow and their positions for the attack?" Everyone chimed in their yeses and mumbled their sures. "Okay, we should all get some sleep tonight, we need to be up bright and early." I said, everyone shuffled off into their rooms, Kaiden and Rachel in the boys room, Guage in the girls room, and Blair and Drake in the makeshift office-room. Rylie sat there on the bar fidgeting with her bow and arrows. She turned it down to 55lbs and replaced the rage broadheads with sharp silver feild points. "Why are you doing that?" She jumped at my voice. "Oh I'm sorry, I didnt mean to scare you." I appolagized, "Its fine, I'm just making this a kill weapon, I dont need to clean pass anything to kill it, its all about where you aim, lungs, heart, or for the zombies, in the head. With the field pionts you dont have to worry about losing broadheads, we might need them for something else." She said, officially making me feel like a yuppie. "Oh, what about your shoulder?" I said, trying not to come off as controlling or pushy, I knew I was still on thin ice. "It will heal, the more I move it the better the muscels chance of remaining the same is." She touched it. Dried blood caked her sweater, and it was my fault. "Listen, I'm sorry for what I did earlier, I didnt know why you left and I just let anger get the best of me." "I've told you before Dawson, I dont need your appolagies, eveyone screws up sometimes, I'd just rather not be snatched from my horse or slapped." My eyes met the floor, I really hadnt been the easiest to get along with. "I know, I didnt mean to, Isis changed me, I use to be calm in all situations, but now when I feel like Im not the one in controll I act out in violence, that was the only way to survive there, and this is a very similar situation. I dont know how to stop myself once I've started, and someone always ends up hurt." I explained, I dont know why I felt the need to open up to her about my past, or why I was the way I was, but for some reason tonight I did. "You dont have to tell me everything thats went wrong in your life, everyone has baggage, the lord knows I do. I feel like I have to prove myself to be accepted into the way life is now, or else it will chew me up and spit me out." she stated "But your so strong Rylie, everything you do inspires me-" "No... No Dawson, Im not strong,.. not at all." She looked down, I hit a nerve somehow. Then out of nowhere she began, "When I was 15 I started dating a boy that lived closeby me, his name was Wes. We dated on and off for threeyrs he was my fist and I was his, but all of his friends always made jokes about how he had been a virgin for so long and how I must have the best around because he was so whipped, I always felt uncomfotable during these conversations but I never said anything other than 'ok ok thats enough' I never really thought anything of it. Then Friday at a randome highschool party where everyone was drinking and having a good time, Wes ended up drinking way more than he normally did and he got a little handsy, it embarassed me, I pushed him and told him to stop, I guess it made him mad enough to hit me bacause he did, hard in the face, he busted my mouth knocking me to the garage floor. His friend Dillon quickly calmed the situation before it escelated any further, I ran to get in my car and drive home, I was stupid to have parked so far away from the house or the road. When I reached my car the door was locked and I realized just how stupid it had been to come out into the darkness alone.. **Rylie's Flashback as she explains the story**

"Looking for something?" I heard a drunken Wes slur, my eyes caught a glimps of the silver keys glint from the moonlight. "Please Wes, your drunk." I begged, holding my hand out for the keys, headlights flicked accross the yard telling me that the last of my girlfriends had left to go home. "Come on babe, I didnt mean to lose my temper with you. Your just so damn sexy I cant keep my hands off of you." He reached out to brush my skin. "Wes I just want to go home." I sniffled, trying not to show my emotions. "All in good time" Another voice boomed from behind me, I jumped quickly backing away from the two drunken boys, only to back into strong arms that restrained my attempt to fight, it was James, one of Wes's best friends throughout his whole life, "Dont you wanna have some fun first?" He breathed into my ear, By this point I was trembling all over shoving hard at James's chest, not accomplishing anything. "W-wes, this isnt funny, I just want to go home." I stuttered out, hoping the caring compassionate Wes I had grown to love would come out and save me from this nightmare.. but he didnt. He watched as I fought as long and as hard as I could, I screamed for him, he just looked away from me.

End of flashback**

"Finally I blacked out from the pain.. I woke up the next morning in a dark closet, hands and feet bound together and I had duct tape over my mouth. My whole body was bruised and naked, I stayed there untill sunday, It was James's house, and his 16 year old brother found me when looking for hunting boots, as soon as I was untied I ran to my car and drove home like I was, No one was there when I got there so I took a shower for about 3 hours, when I got out I went straight to my bedroom and shoved on some clothes, I walked int my vanity to put makeup on my bruised face and Wes was there, just standing there with a knife. He was crying, imidiantly I looked around behind me to see if anyone else was with him, no one was. I backed away it just wasnt fast enough to get away from him, he pinned me to my bed and held the knife to my throat, He said... He said "Listen to me closely, I didnt know the shots were drugged with testosterone, I didnt ever mean to hurt you, it wasnt my idea, so if this ever gets out I'll kill you, do you understand?" I heard the clicking of Daxx's toenails coming towards my room, He released me hiding the knife behind his back, Daxx entered the room, he knew something was wrong, he began growling at Wes furiously. "I hope you arent stupid enough to try me Rylie." He spat before he left me there, crying in a mess all over again. That was the last time I spoke to him, a few months later the appocalypse broke out. I took that time to train with the local MMA trainer, I never told anyone what happened untill now.

She looked at me waiting on a response, her red eyes threatened to spill at any moment, but they never did. "I... I'm so sorry Rylie. I had no idea." I teared up, my throat hanging on every word. "I dont want your pity Dawson- "They should have never touched you, I dont care what kind of drugs they used." Fury raged inside me. Now it made sense to my why she was so terrified of Charlie, she had been traumatized beyond repair, just like me. "I beleive in fate Dawson, I beleive everything that happens in a persons life is meant to happen. As many nightmares as I've had about that night, you would think I would have killed myself by now, but in all factuallness its only made me stronger. If it hadnt have been for that night I would have never had the capabilities of fighting Zombies, I'd be dead right now." She said. The gruesome story replayed itself over and over in my head, it burned me inside to think of someone hurting her that way. "Enough story time for one night." She sighed, walking towards the stairs. "You wanna halp me rebandage my shoulder? Maybe I'll be able to shoot my bow tomorrow." She said happily. "Yeah I'll help." I said folowing her up stairs. I put the last peice of tape to secure the bandage, "Alright, your good to go, now I'll just grab a blanket and a pillow and be on my way." I said pulling a pillow from behind her sitting position. "You dont have to leave.." She spoke softly. "I dont want to be alone." She said, "Okay, then I'll stay." I said climbing into bed beside her, carefull not to hurt her arm, but I think she's healing quite nicely. Her mind and her body.

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Alright homies! I hope this chapter can quench your reading thirst for a few days, cause its the freakin weekend! WHOOP WHOOP! everyone be safe! And enjoy! Posting pictures of Dawson, Rylie, and the rest of the crew sometime tomorow or the next day!!!