Episode 4 "Bloodshed Part One"

Dex looked up from Kate and turned his head slowly to see Mark gone, Dex was confused as he sped walked over to where he stood. Dex looked around but didn't call for him, he looked down and saw hair on the floor, Dex turned to see a light at the end of the hall. Dex turned to Kate who was scared and didn't want to leave his side, "stay here and play with your friends, I'll be back." Kate looked at him and said, "why can't I come with?" Dex sighed and kneeled, "just stay here, I gotta go check on dad okay?" Kate knew she couldn't convince him so she let go and slowly walked back to the toys on the ground as Dex walked away slowly. Dex walked down the hall slowly and walked into the room, there was nothing, he looked around and saw that it was Mark's room. Dex searched the place but saw no signs of him, Dex turned to see an old family picture put on the desk with a note beside it. Dex walked over and looked at the note, he briefly read it and instantly knew he had to go and find Mark. Dex turned to run out of the room, he continued down the hall, almost sprinting. Dex was quickly searching around the place until he saw some people rushing over to a room. Mandy caught up to Dex, "the hell is going on?" Dex shrugged and ran more as Mandy followed, Dex made it to the crowd of people, Alex turned to him slowly and couldn't find it in her to tell him what happened. Dex pushed through the crowd as Alex stopped him, "Dex don't…" Dex turned to her and said, "why not?! What happened, Alex?" she stared at him and understood his pain as she stepped aside and let him through.

Dex got through the crowd slowly and as soon as he saw it he dropped down and was overwhelmed with emotion. Dex turned to see his father hanging from the ceiling, "I was too late… too slow… why?" Dex was shocked by this as he looked up to see the lifeless corpse, he was broken, he finally got where he was going all this time just for both parents to die, Dex had no clue what to do or say in that moment. Mandy walked up and kneeled down with Dex as they sat there and took it in, everyone was hurt by this. Alex looked at Mark and got angry as she stormed away to where Carlos was being held. Alex kept walking fast until she made it to the room, she entered and pulled her knife out and held it to Carlos' throat, "the hell did you do?!" Carlos looked at her and said, "what are you talking about? I didn't. Do. shit." Alex stabbed him in the leg and said angrily, "bullshit, what did you do?!" Carlos looked at her and smiled a bit, "Oh you mean Mark? Did he do it already? Gee didn't think he would." Alex looked at him and twisted her knife slowly, "you knew what he was going through and did nothing, all you did was push him…" Alex was overwhelmed with emotion as Carlos looked at her, "you are just pinning the blame on me because you want a reason to kill me it's alright, let it all out." Alex looked at him and pulled her knife out slowly, "soon you will learn what happens to people like you." She put her knife away and walked out of the room, she leaned against the wall slowly and took a deep breath, she has been holding all her emotions back for a long time, she just let it all out as she fell to the ground crying. Alex clenched her fst tight as she took a deep breath, Alex looked at the ceiling and remembered the tough time she had getting from the ship in Texas to there, she remembered the struggles she went through. Alex looked down the hall to see Mandy and Dex standing there grieving.

LATER:

A cross remained in the front of the factory as people stood around it grieving, Dex stood back with Mandy and Alex with Kate by his side. "We need to end things now, tie up loose ends, after that I'm heading home back to Wilmington." Mandy looked at him and said, "I fear this place here may not last much longer, it's November, it's cold and it'll snow soon, with all that's happening we may not survive too much longer." Dex looked at her and said, "back home at Wilmington… We're low in numbers and despite being safe you guys have hardly any resources left, maybe when it's all over you can relocate to Monroe to setup a new HQ, Riley is from Wilmington anyway, I'm sure she'll wanna go down there." Mandy nodded and before she could speak Tom, the factory's leader approached them slowly, "how you holdin up?" Dex looked at Tom and took a deep breath, "I'll live, I just need to have a moment, we need to not attack just yet, I know the plan Riley has… Shit we need to get back too, they'll send out a search party soon." Alex looked at Tom as he and Mandy walked away, "I'll keep an eye out for him, we'll be in touch." Tom nodded as he watched them leave the factory gate. They walked in silence down the road for the whole trip.

Once they arrived at the Caravan ship they paused to see Lambert standing there with a rifle pointed at them. "Shit I thought you were them for a second, sorry, come on in." They walked through the gate, Lambert noticed the looks in their eyes, he was confused as to why they look like they went through a lot on a simple scouting mission. The trio walked across the bridge where Riley looked at them with a smile. Alex looked around and said, "we need to talk indoors, I'll explain there." They turned and walked to the meeting room, before entering Mandy double t append Alex's side when she noticed a couple people watching, Alex nodded slowly as they entered. They all quickly sat down as Mandy covered all of the windows, "okay so this'll seem crazy but things are coming to a head here and it's time to tell you because now we're all in danger and will die if we don't. Carlos has been leading this group of people who are…" Riley cut her off and said, "I know." Alex got confused, Riley took a deep breath and said, "I've had my suspicions for a long time now and after what Carlos said to Lambert after climbing off the side of the ship, well lets just say I know and yes I know who the real enemy is here."

Dex finally broke his silence as he looked up, "he's dead in case you're wondering." Riley didn't ask who because she knew who, "I'm sorry Aiden, I know it's hard, I guess that means you've met Kate then, nice you two finally met." A loud explosion from outside got their attention as they all got up and rushed to the window, Mandy opened it a little to see a large group of people from the ship standing there with guns. They had many people hostage, Dex pulled his handgun out as he looked at them, they all walked out slowly with their guns aimed at the enemy.

"You aren't gonna do shit against us!" Dex looked over to see smoke off in the distance, he got worried instantly, "Kate…" Dex looked at the people as Carlos slowly walked through the crowd. He looked at them and was angry, "you'll pay for what you did, you'll all die, then we will take whatever we want and whoever we want…" Before he could continue Riley cut him off and said calmly, "don't do this, just put the guns down, all of you!" Carlos held his gun to a woman who was in tears, "I'm sorry what?! Couldn't hear you over the sound of a bullet to the head." Before they knew it the woman's brains were all over the floor, Carlos aimed it at Riley as he slowly walked up, she felt the heat of the gun pressed against her head as he looked at her in the eyes, "you know, these shots will attract walkers, but… Not enough so here's what I'll do, I'm going to take all of these lovely people, take them to our camp at the factory which we took." Carlos looked at Dex and said with a smile, "Kate was it? She cried for help, cried for you, don't worry she was silenced, someone had to do it." Dex fought the urge to kill him as Carlos looked at Riley again, "there are several big explosives on board, each capable of taking the ship down… with you four in it, if you do anything these people die, so choose wisely." Carlos stopped talking to her and signaled for his group to round everyone up as the four were taken down to the boiler room.

Once they were locked in they all stopped fighting it, Alex leaned against the wall and dropped to the floor, she had already given up. Mandy sat in the corner with her red machete looking at her name carved into it as she smiled slightly. She was remembering the past with her father and sister, she slowly remembered the crosses outside their house, Mandy was slowly beginning to accept that she was going to be reunited with them. Riley sat with Dex against the wall as they stared at the door, "this remind you of back at the Compound?" Dex looked at her and said, "only we won then." Riley nodded as Dex stared at the wall thinking about Lamar, Jack, the others back at Wilmington, he was hurting that he wouldn't get to see them again.

They all sat there for a while as time went by, the room began heating up, they knew the bombs were about to go off eventually. Before they knew it they felt the rumbling and heard the explosions. They saw the blinding lights slowly reaching the room as they all looked at each other crying. Alex got closer to the group as they sat there with their eyes closed, they accepted what was to come as everything went dark at an instant.

The Factory:

Inside the factory Kate was crawling through the vents above the place, it was a bloodbath below. She was trying not to breath as she crawled around, Kate looked around to see an exit, she quickly crawled over to it, she slowly opened it and used ehr small size to her advantage as she climbed onto the shelves. She crawled across the last shelf before being able to climb down slowly. Kate looked around to see some people tied up, they were beat, alone, Kate didn't want to free them just yet since it would be too risky so she walked on before anyone could notice. Kate looked around and saw some stairs that led to an office on the upper floor, she walked up and slowly opened the door to the room. Kate walked in and shut the door behind her. Kate turned to see a man standing at the comms, she was spooked and quickly dove under the table and used that as cover. Kate crawled around under there and eventually got to his legs where she pulled her knife out slowly. Kate whispered to herself, "just like training." Kate stabbed the man and as he fell she drove the knife through his side and then kicked him in the head until he was knocked out.

Kate turned her head and looked at the table, she climbed onto the chair to get a better look, Kate looked around and tried to remember all the buttons Mark had shown her. Kate looked at a big yellow button and smiled as she pressed it. Kate was under a lot of pressure since many lives depended on this. She looked at it in frustration, "where is the walker release button?!" Kate looked around and saw a switch, she remembered instantly and before she could press it she was knocked out.

Kate slowly woke up tied to the same spot everyone else was stuck in, Tom looked over and was relieved to she she was still alive. "Kate what the hell happened?" Kate looked over and ignored the massive headache as she faintly said, "I tried to release the walkers, and set the music so we can escape easier." Tom liked her dedication but knew he had to say something, "look I promised your father and now Dex that I would make sure you wouldn't go and get yourself killed! I know you were trying to help but you're too young to be going out and doing that stuff, these people are dangerous, remember what you were taught in training?" Kate looked at the walkers in the distance through the windows and calmly responded, "never act unless you know for certain you will come out alive… But I kne…" Tom cut her off and said, "but nothing, you can't be getting yourself killed okay?" Kate nodded without saying a word as Carlos and a few others entered the room.

Carlos looked at Kate as he walked by and kneeled in front of her, he saw the anger in her eyes. "You know Dex is currently at the bottom of the ocean with Riley, Alex, and the bitch with the machete… Did I mention Dex was there too? Seems like you have no family left, nobody left to care for you." Kate just about lost it but her restraints hurt worse when she moved forward to kill him. Carlos looked at her and kicked her foot as he walked on, "at sunrise people you begin your new lives, if you don't comply then you will be tortured and killed like your missing friends… This is the new world!" Kate looked at a walker getting loose from the fence keeping it in, she didn't say a thing as it walked up to one of the people aiming a rifle at her, as soon as it was too late she yelled, "LOOK OUT WALKER!!!!" the man turned and got his face bitten off instantly, as he fell Kate began to use her foot to try and kick his knife out of his belt.

Kate struggled for a bit and got it once the walker was killed, "THE FENCE IS BROKEN, THEY'LL GET IN!" she used the screaming and yelling to mask the sound of her kicking the knife to her hands behind her back. Carlos walked up and kicked her in the side and told her to shut up. Kate was in a lot of pain as Carlos looked at Kate and signaled for his people to take the others away, Kate looked at Carlos through the blood and tried not to show any pain as they knocked Tom out. They took the others away quickly, "I'll just leave you for our friend here" Carlos walked away with a smile as he stripped the corpse of the weapons and walked away. Kate saw the body twitch a little.

Kate was freaking out as she rushed to cut her rope off, Kate almost failed but she kept cutting, eventually she freed one hand, she began to struggle with the other. Kate saw the man get up, he looked at her and after a second the walker lunged at her. Kate screamed as it fell on top of her, she slowly opened her eyes to see her knife through it's skull. Kate dropped it and pulled her knife out. Kate continued cutting and eventually freed herself, Kate ran to the end of the room and saw that there was going to be almost no way to the office without help so she opened the gated off area and took a deep breath since this was where an outbreak happened, her old friends are all in there. Kate banged the knife against the fence and listened to the walkers walking to her. Shew could hardly see through the blood on her face, Kate wiped it away as she ignored the pain she felt, Kate ran over to the door with walkers catching up as she opened it and hid behind it. Walkers started pouring into the room where all of Carlos' people were at, Kate went running through and was confused when she heard multiple gunshots in the distance.

Kate was really confused but continued, she kept running and eventually she made it to the office. Once she entered she ran through the blood on the ground and eventually she looked through another window in the back of the room, she looked through it and was shocked to see what was there, who was there. Kate gripped her knife tight as she ran to the switch and flipped it and ran out of the room fast.

The Ship:

Dex heard the sounds of water rushing around him as he floated around in the ocean. Dex was surrounded by debris, Riley was wounded badly as Alex swam over to grab her. Alex shoved Riley in the direction of the shore as she swam over to Dex and did the same to him. Dex slowly opened his eyes in the water but closed them instantly, he was hardly hanging on. Alex eventually got them out and on the shore, Mandy was shivering on the side as Marcus helped warm her up. Alex looked up and signaled for Marcus to help her perform cpr on them. They were at it for a short while when Riley eventually bursted awake. Alex told her to lay down as Marcus began helping her with her wound instantly. Alex listened for a heartbeat on Dex and smiled when she heard it, "we're all gonna make it. Don't give up."

Dex slowly opened his eyes on shore, he looked around and was in a lot of pain, he was almost seeing double. When he got it all together he looked and saw Marcus helping Riley with her wound by the gate. Mandy kneeled in front of Dex and helped him up, "I guess dipshit locked up in the one room at the bottom that would result in us in the ocean before burning." Dex looked at Marcus and looked at him, Marcus took a deep breath and said, "I know what I did back at the colony but things are different now, I'm not about to let more people die because I don't wanna stay and fight." Dex looked at him and Marcus accepted that trust won't ever be gained back. Mandy was shivering as she shared her blanket with Dex, they sat down by an old car trying to warm up in the cold November weather.

Dex looked at the ship as it was mostly in the water, the rest was burning. They all saw walkers coming up to them, Marcus was the only one capable of dealing with them at that moment. Marcus took his weapon out, Dex saw it was damaged so he slowly, painfully walked over and handed him his machete. Marcus took it and looked at Dex and then the walkers, he walked up and took the few out quickly. Marcus turned to look down the street and saw more on the way. "Shit they must have heard all the shit going down here, there's gotta be more on the way, we gotta go now!" Riley looked at Alex and Mandy, then at Dex and said to Marcus, "we aren't gonna make it far after that, we're all winded, just give us a second." Marcus handed Dex his machete and agreed to wait a little bit.

Marcus noticed they were all freezing, he looked at the smoke in the distance and said, "the only source of warmth is the factory. I'm not a damn doctor but you'll all get hypothermia or something, you can't easily treat those things these days so come on." They all slowly got up and relied on each other to keep eachother up and moving. They began to slowly walk, Mandy was slowly turning blue, when Dex noticed he gave her more of the blanket and they used body heat for warmth. Marcus and Alex were helping Riley move since she was cold and bleeding.

The group walked past Lambert who was zombified on the ground, they were all tired, beat but didn't want to give up yet, they were barely hanging in there. Mandy looked around and said, "I'm willing to guess they are all at the factory still." Riley held her hand on a wound she had as she looked around as well, "let's hope they stay there, wipe 'em all out." Alex sighed and said out loud for all of them to hear, "lets just get our people and go, we'll kill Carlos that's it, everyone else is just trying to survive, if we have no choice we do it, don't wanna stay too long and risk our people."

Dex agreed as Marcus looked at the smoke in the distance, they eventually sped up as they slowly got their energy back up bit. After a lot of walking they eventually made it to the factory where they stood and looked around. There was nothing, just burnt corpses and fires, they all were on high alert as they walked through and entered the community. They heard a man scream from inside with some yelling, they all got low and were extra careful. "You think it was one of them?" Riley said, "let's not worry about that now" , replied Dex. They slowly came to a stop in front of the door, the group all sat down and looked at each other, they all got their weapons out and ready. They all were ready for whatever may have been behind that door as they opened it quickly and bolted inside. Dex saw Mandy collapse instantly, he dropped down to check for a pulse and looked up, "she's okay but I don't think she'll be alone in this whole collapsing thing so lets get a move on." Dex rushed over to help Riley as Alex and Marcus helped Mandy. They continued onward knowing there wasn't any going back.

Tying Up Loose Ends:

Once far enough in Carlos looked at them with guns pointed, a few warning shots were fired. Marcus noticed Kate watching from above, he didn't pay too much attention to it since he didn't want to give her position away. Carlos looked at them with the three people with him and said out loud, "why can't you just die! It's over. I guess a bullet will have to do now!" Carlos looked at the people with him and got ready to signal them to fire their guns. Kate was rushing down the stairs and quietly walked through the door to her left, she quietly walked up behind Carlos, before his people could notice she took a deep breath and cut his ankles. As he fell screaming she went to kill him, she hasn't killed before so she hesitated, before one of the others could shoot her Dex killed the others with Marcus with their guns. Dex rushed up the stairs and grabbed Kate's knife, "don't be like them, be the better person here, I know what he did and I know how you feel but this won't help a damn thing, I know that too well. I've been there, killing, especially your first time will take you down a dark path, I don't want that for you, let's go, let's get our people and go." Kate hugged Dex, they were happy to know the other was alive, Dex took a deep breath and was relieved, "mom and dad would be proud of you, knowing you're willing to make big decisions for the good of others."

Kate stood up and signaled for them to follow, once they got into the next room they saw Tom and others fighting off walkers, Dex looked at everyone and signaled for them to help. Dex turned and gave Kate his gun and kneeled, "stay here with Mandy okay? Be strong, make sure you both survive this, we gotta help the others okay?" Kate nodded as Dex turned and slowly caught up with the others. Kate saw Carlos slowly push himself through the door with a gun, Kate put hers up and aimed it at Carlos, "leave now!" Carlos smiled and said, "I ain't got much to live for right now, I'm gonna die anyway, so you're not gonna scare me." Carlos aimed his gun at Kate and saw her struggling with her wounds and the pain, "you seem like you're in bad shape." Kate walked forward slowly, she caught him off guard since he didn't think she would do it and before Carlos could shoot her a bullet went through his head. Kate stared at him and saw the smoke rising from her gun as he fell.

Kate felt the heat of the gun and dropped it instantly, she looked at his lifeless corpse on the ground and stepped back. She was freaking out, she didn't realize she shot him, Mandy grabbed her hand and sat up, "it's okay, you did good. He would have killed us both and many more, you saved lives by doing that." She didn't know how to tell a 4 and a half year old that the kill was justified. She looked over to see the others finally getting their things together as the remaining walkers were killed. Kate was shocked, she didn't say a word, she watched as walkers dropped to the floor, all she could hear was the sound of silence from Carlos, the gunshot that rang in her ear for a while.

Later:

Kate sat on the opposite side of a wagon from Dex, he looked at her playing with her gun, "it's gonna be okay." Kate ignored him as they rode in a big caravan with everyone who survived. Dex noticed her silence as he looked up at Marcus who was driving the wagon, "what's your plan after all of this, I doubt you want to stick around any longer." Marcus took a deep breath and said, "I can't go back to some of those people, I failed them too many times, I think I'm just going to go and travel somewhere new, start fresh, be a lonesome drifter." Dex smiled as the drifter memories came back from when he first started drifting alone. "I got a feeling this is it, this is then end, ya know when all those old movies end the characters achieve their goals in some way and are left to figure out what's next for them… This feels like that." Marcus watched as a walker roamed by them on the street, "It's been a crazy journey, maybe someday we'll cross paths again, I don't know."

Dex nodded as he looked over at Kate who was looking at the blood stained to her hands. Dex was worried, Mandy looked over and said, "don't worry, I got it, I've dealt with this before." Dex handed her his rag as she grabbed a water bottle. Mandy moved over to Kate and began slowly cleaning the blood off of her hands, "that blood, it's not on you, it may be dried to your hands but it doesn't mean shit. You're strong as hell, brave as hell, I've never seen anyone do what you did back there, you saved lives, more lives than anyone. When we get to Alexandria we'll have Siddiq take a look at your wounds and get moving alright?" Kate nodded, she was looking around to see where they were, she noticed they were just passing by DC. Kate watched as the streets remained empty, they were speeding through to get to Alexandria before the sun goes down.

Alex and Riley sat there looking at the caravan they had, "I don't think Michonne will allow us to enter, we'll probably have to just keep going." Alex looked at the signs Rosita had put up to direct people to Alexandria and said, "we could always stop for a quick checkup and leave, Michonne won't care about that." Riley nodded as they went on for a little bit longer, they eventually made it to the big blue rusted walls of Alexandria, the windmill being built beside them as they went through the open gates. The hurt group looked around as Siddiq came running up to them with Enid by his side. Riley looked down and was happy to see Enid, as they climbed down she approached her. "We got a lot of wounded, we just need to have them checked out and helped if needed, after that we'll be on our way, we are going back to Willmington, the community I told you guys about." Enid nodded as she signaled for them to follow her. Once inside Enid took a look at Kate's head, Siddiq was fixing Mandys wound on the other table. Dex looked at Mandy as she looked up with a smile, "you look like you've seen a ghost."

Dex smiled back and said calmly, "you remind me of an old friend Mel, she was just like you, age and everything, bet you two would have been the most stubborn and badass duo ever." Mandy looked at the ceiling and said, "she already seems so cool." Dex turned to look at Enid who was standing there, "how is she?" Enid looked at her and said, "surprised she's fine, just a few scars that's it." Dex was relieved as he walked to the chair in the corner, he was enjoying the heat in the room, Dex was tired and knew they would be there for the night at that point. Dex slowly dozed off.

Time passed as Dex was struggling with the horrors that took place in Monroe, it was haunting him. Dex jolted awake in the middle of the night, his heart was fast, he was breathing heavy as he stood up. He walked over to check in Kate was breathing, then Mandy, then he walked outside. Dex walked down the street in Alexandria, he eventually made it to the watch tower where he began climbing. Dex eventually made it to the top, he sat down next to Riley who was already there. "Bad dreams?" Dex looked at her as she continued, "you woke me up, you were talking in your sleep about Monroe and different people, some dark stuff, what happened there?" Dex looked down and took a deep breath as he prepared to tell her what happened that night.

END