Dead Weight/Issue 16

**Issue 16** is the sixteenth issue of Dead Weight. It is entitled Bones.

## Story

“Shit.” Grace curses, pulling out her gun as Robbie, Cooper and Grace begin firing their guns. Abreham stumbles, continuing to make his way away from the herd as Flake tries to stomp down on the dead’s head. Robbie, not thinking straight, grabs Flake’s sword from the floor and approaches the herd. “Be careful!” Grace calls as Robbie slices the head of a runner, slicing through another and another.

Cooper puts a bullet in the dead’s head that is grabbing Flake, allowing him to come free as Grace fires at the other dead starting to crowd him, Flake manages to escape by the skin of his teeth, Robbie backing away and Flake snatches his sword back, almost cutting himself in the darkness.

“That was too close.” Flake comments, slicing through the head of another undead before taking off, Grace right behind him. Robbie puts one last bullet into the undead before he, too, turns to run. Cooper follows right behind him but suddenly feels something grab at his upper arm, a runner, speeding right at him and tugs him downwards.

“HELP ME!” He screams, falling flat on his back. Grace and Robbie turn to shoot at the dead again, managing to put a bullet in the head of the runner who grabbed Cooper, but they’re too late as several of the dead jump on top of Cooper, Cooper managing to kill one as his hand is suddenly torn into, his pinky finger being ripped from the skin as he lets out a blood curdling cry.

“We have to leave him.” Flake demands, Cooper attempts to shove the dead off of him, managing to shuffle free from the swarm for just a second in order to stumble back down again behind a tree, his screams heard as Robbie, Grace and Flake run, catching upto Abreham as Cooper’s screams echo into the forest as his body is ripped into, blood pouring into the grass as he soon fades into unconciousness, his whole body shaking as he dies on the forest floor.

Sabrina climbs up the guard tower. “Have you seen ‘em yet?” She asks, having just heard a scream merely minutes ago.

“No.”

“Well, you have to stop watchin’ now and go down to help us open the gate.” Sabrina tells him, glancing down to see Carlos peeking out the gate.

“You two can open the gate, I’ll warn you if they make it.” Drake tells her.

“When they make it.” Sabrina corrects him, making her way down to Carlos again.

“The kids are getting ready to leave with the girls, do you think we’ll have to leave?”

Sabrina pauses, thinking for a moment, “Yeah.” She replies.

Drake squints as he hears a scream, looking through his binoculars one last time to spot the group running through the trees.

Sally sits, crossed leg on the bed, wearing her night clothes which is a long, thin, white gown. She sits, lost in her own thoughts as the bedroom door suddenly opens. She snaps out of her daze, looking up at Bri wanders into the room.

“Oh, hey.” Sally smiles lightly, hopping off the bed and moving around to the window. Bri closes the door behind her.

“Are you okay?” She asks, Sally sits against the window, looking away from Bri so her cheek isn’t noticable. “I heard what happened.”

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes! It was just a misunderstanding, that’s all.” Sally says, her voice slightly annoyed. Bri nods, rather awkwardly as she takes off her jacket.

“Are you not staying with Connor tonight?” She asks her.

“No, he has to deal with things.”

“Okay.” Bri throws her jacket on the end of the bed. “So you’re still… Together?”

“What’s it matter.” Sally asks, staring at Bri, “Why’re you so jumpy all the time, anyways?!”

“I’m just wondering.” Bri says quietly, climbing onto the bed and lifting the covers over her.

“You weren’t thinking of leaving again?” Sally asks “I can see it in your face.”

“See what?”

“That you hate this place. You hate Connor and you hate me.”

“I don’t hate you.”

“Then why do you want to leave.”

Bri lies down, pulling the covers up to her neck and turning to face away from Sally. “I just-- can’t.” She says, clicking the lamp off and leaving only the glow of the moon coming into the room as light for Sally. She sits on the window, looking over to Bri before pushing herself off the window and climbing into the bed, lying on her back and staring at the cieling.

Nancy pulls a jacket over Harry as Tanya keeps a look out the door, letting the cold air breeze into the cabin and causing Amy to shiver. Inside the cabin, Nancy and Tanya prepare the kids, Amy, Mark, Harry, Sammy and Molly, to leave as Jessica helps out.

“I can’t see them, but the gates are still closed, I know that.” Tanya says.

“Good, good.”

“Where are we going?” Harry asks, adjusting his jacket before sticking his thumb in his mouth.

“Somewhere away from this place, somewhere safer.”

“This place is safe.” Mark says from the table at the back of the cabin, holding a glass of water in his hand.

“Not anymore.” Tanya says.

“Why not?” Sammy asks.

“We can’t explain right now, It’s just… The monsters are coming into the forest.” Nancy tells them.

Amy sits on the couch, her whole body shaking as she stares into space, her eyes locked on the blank wall in front of her. She barely listens to the conversation going on around her anymore. She feels a cold hand on her shoulder and jumps at the touch, her head spinning to see Nancy.

“Are you okay?” She asks Amy as she comes back to normal, Amy nods but Nancy puts the back of her hand to Amy’s forehead, feeling her cold sweat and slight temperature. “You don’t feel okay…”

“It’s just nerves.” Amy says shakily, looking down at the ground as Nancy removes her hand from her forehead. “I get ‘em all the time.”

“Just try to keep a level head, okay? Everything’ll be okay.” Nancy smiles, recieiving a small smile back from Amy.

From the door, Jessica watches Amy as Tanya keeps her head poked between the door frame.

“We won’t be able to leave through the gates.” Tanya mentions, turning her head to peek along towards the end of the camp where the wall lies unfinished. “We’ll have to go that way.”

“We’ll make it, but we have to wait for Robbie and the others to come back.” Jessica says.

“Yeah, but that gate wont hold for long, I’m telling you that right now.”

“It’ll hold long enough.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Nancy asks as she slips over towards the girls, pulling her own jacket over her. “Can you close the door, It’s freezing?”

“I will soon.” Tanya says quietly.

“What’s wrong with Amy?” Jessica asks, her voice a whisper. Nancy shrugs.

“Not sure, she seems really anxious.”

“She’ll be fine, all the kids are pretty shaken up.”

“Yeah, you’re right. This isn’t a really good experience for them.” Nancy says as she slips her hand into Tanya’s, squeezing it tightly.

Amy stands, brushing down her jacket slightly as she makes her way towards the back room, opening the door and spotting Scrap in the corner, scratching his ear. She makes her way inside, kneeling down.

“Come here boy!” She calls quietly, Scrap stands, shaking himself before walking over to Amy and licking at her face, happy that somebody had come inside the room. She pets Scrap slowly, using her other hand to scratch his ear. “Good boy!”

Abreham is the first one to stumble out of the trees, seeing a large gate a few feet in front of him. Grace, Robbie and Flake follow right behind, the dead only seconds behind them.

“LET US IN.” Flake demands, Grace runs to the gate and presses up against it, Robbie grabbing the grating and tugging at it, the metal lock clanging against the wood.

“DRAKE. GIVE US THE KEY.” Carlos yells.

“Can’t. The dead will get in.” Drake hesitates as they first few dead come out from behind lake’s group. Sabrina looks at her sister from the other side of the gate as Grace angrily bangs her fist against the gate. Sabrina begins hyperventilating, watching as her sister turns to put a bullet in the dead’s head.

“You motherfucker.” Flake growls, slicing his sword through an undead’s arm and neck, slicing it’s head clean off. “FOLLOW ME.” Flake calls out, attracting the group’s attention as he suddenly makes a small dive down the mountainous hill, leading the group around the edge of the camp as the dead extend their arms out hungrily.

“YOU’RE AN ASSHOLE.” Grace screams at Drake as Robbie and Abreham follow behind Flake, Grace’s hair almost getting grabbed by the dead as she dodges, stabbing it roughly in it’s head and leaving the knife lodged in it’s skull as she follows the boys beyond the trees.

Carlos pulls Sabrina back suddenly as several of the dead push their way up to the gate, clanging it roughly as they reach their hands through. Sabrina shrugs Carlos’ hand off of her, taking a glace at Drake with her face full of panic and anger as she takes off suddenly, away from the gate.

“I’m going to get everyone ready to go. Make sure that gate doesn’t fall.” Carlos demands, taking off as fast as he can towards the cabins.

Sabrina stops running after a few seconds, her breathing heavy as she eyes the food storage and the gun supplies, forming a plan in her head, not knowing what to do as she can barely see, the only things she can hear is slight gunshot and the overwhelming sound of the dead.

“What are you going to do with her?” Haley asks as she takes a drink of her coffee, sitting on the edge of the desk as Connor paces in front of her.

“There’s only one thing we can do.”

“Yeah, but do you want to freak out Sally?”

“She’s seen it before.”

“It hasn’t been personal towards her, though.”

“She knows what it’s about, she knows that’s the way we work around here and she’ll understand.”

Haley nods, swinging her legs.

“First thing in the morning, we go and get Allison.” Connor tells Haley, “We tell her what’s happening and then, soon we’ll start.”

“We can’t do it straight away, though.”

“I know, I know.” Connor nods, thinking. “We’ll just have to make do with the situation we have.”

Haley takes one last drink of her coffee before dumping the cup into the trash.

“Is there anything you need?” She asks Connor as she jumps off of the desk.

“No, goodnight, Haley.”

“See ya’” Haley says before disappearing out of the room, the door swinging shut behind her.

Bri lies on her back, staring up at the ceiling as Sally lies next to her, her back facing Bri as she lies, staring out towards the window. The two girls lying awake, thinking the other is asleep.

“Are you awake?” Sally suddenly asks, not taking her eyes off of the window. Bri bites her lip, looking over at Sally for a moment before returning her absent-minded gaze to the ceiling.

“Yeah.” Bri replies. Sally rolls over until she faces Bri, they can barely see eachother in the dark but the soft, blue glow from outside allows the enough light to make eachother out.

“I’m sorry for yelling at you.” Sally whispers, her voice low.

“You don’t have to apologize.” Bri tells her, also turning on her side to face Sally, a pillow lying between them, seperating them. Sally lies her head on the pillow, cuddling into it like it was a person.

“You didn’t deserve it, though. I didn’t mean to snap, I’m just really… Stressed out, that’s all.” Sally tells her.

“Me, too--”

“I mean, you’re doing such amazing things here and I’m just…”

“It’s okay.” Bri says, “Did I ever tell you about before I met you?”

“No, I don’t think you did.”

“It was the only group I’ve ever been with, it was right at the start. Like when you had a group, I had one but… It wasn’t very good.”

“What happened?”

“I found them during the first few days, they welcomed me in but it didn’t last. I was only there a month when I found out…” Bri pauses, biting at her lip as she thinks for a moment.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Sally tells her.

“They were trying to cure the disease,” Bri continues, “The leader was religious, she thought that if there was a way that it could happen, there was a way to make it stop.”

“...Did she hurt you?”

“Almost.” Bri admits, “I got away but, uh… They had already… Killed people for their cause.”

“That’s awful.” Sally says, reaching over to grab Bri’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly. “I’m really sorry.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to be apart of anything after that, after I escaped I didn’t see anyone else for a month… Until I came across you.”

Sally smiles, removing her hand from Bri’s to adjust herself in the bed, putting her hand under her pillow to support her head. “Thanks for coming away from your beliefs to save me.”

“You’re welcome.”

“So, you’re not going to leave me, right?”

“I’ll try not to.” Bri shyly smiles, letting a small yawn slip through her lips.

“We should sleep, It’s been a long day.” Sally suggests.

“Yeah,” Bri nods, rolling back onto her back. “You sure you’re okay, though?”

“I’ll be fine.” Sally tells Bri before rolling back to face the window, letting out a loud sigh.

Sabrina tucks a gun into the back of her belt, covering it with her shirt as she comes out of the gun storage, heading back towards the gates, spotting Drake firing his gun at the dead from the tower, she could barely hear the gunshots due to the loud growling of the dead.

She climbs up the tower, her footsteps light as she reaches the top, pulling out her gun as she shakily holds it, her whole face covered in rage as she suddenly slams the gun forward, slamming it into the back of Drake’s head and causing him to stumble forward, barely managing to grab onto the side of the tower as his gun clangs off of the wooden fence and tumbles into the horde below. He grumbles loudly, rubbing the back of his head as he turns to face his attacker, Sabrina.

She cocks the gun, holding it extended out, pointing it at Drake’s head.

“Let them in.”

## Cast

### Main

* Drew Van Acker as Robbie Starn
* Melissa Benoist as Jessica Starn
* Allie Lewis as Grace Berry
* Brooke Hyland as Sabrina Berry
* Imogen Poots as Sally Middleton
* Liam Hemsworth as Flake
* Josh Pudleiner as Carlos
* Melissa Kirk as Melissa

### Supporting

* Q'orianka Kilcher as Tanya
* Katie Findlay as Nancy
* Andrea Boehkle as Bri
* Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Cooper
* Malina Weissman as Amy
* Sanai Victoria as Sammy
* Ariana Greenblatt as Molly
* Harry Styles as Drake

### Also Starring

* Billy Burke as Connor
* Janel Parrish as Haley Reed
* Antonia Thomas as Vicky
* Brock Brenner as Harry
* Noah Schnepp as Mark

### Guest

* Jackson Rathbone as Abreham
* Troye Sivan as Sam
* Jennifer Lawrence as Alison
* Unknown Dog as Scrap

## Deaths

* Cooper