Dead Weight/Issue 14

**Issue 14** is the fourteenth issue of Dead Weight. It is entitled Choking in Smoke.

## Timeline

Day 15 (whatever day it was idk this is canon now okay thank u)

## Story

“I think we should buckle up.” Abreham calls out as the helicopter begins shaking, Abreham’s fingers digging into the seat anxiously as Wesley attempts to control the vehicles he had no experience in driving.

Wesley nods, looking down at his buckled up self before looking back forwards. Abreham turns to Janice, who’s sitting in her seat with a large frown in her face, staring at her arm.

“Hey-- You’re going to be fine! Buckle up.” Abreham tells her, Janice looks up at him, her face rather pale as she nods, tears pricking the edge of her eyes as she leans back in her seat, attaching the belts across her body as they form an X shape, securing her into the seat as the Helicopter swings to the side momentarily.

“Be careful!” Abreham yells.

“We’re goin’ down.” Wesley says, gripping the controls with all his strength. “I’m sorry.”

“Wesley, you can land this.” Abreham says, leaning forward to look out, spotting a small camp underneath them as the helicopter begins plummeting to the ground.

“Sorry, pal.” Wesley says, reaching over Abreham’s body to grip Janice’s hand for a minute, squeezing her cold hand tight. Abreham reaches over, taking the control in his hand as he attempts to pull the helicopter up, but he’s too late. He manages to cusion their crash as he is suddenly thrown forward, the helicopter falling into the forest bellow.

Grace and Sabrina walked in the gates, Sabrina throws her backpack towards Flake as he stands at his cabin’s door. He catches it, grunting as it’s heavier than he had expected, stumbling back a little.

“Are you okay? You seem rather pale.” Grace asks as she approached him, stopping at the edge of the stairs leading upwards towards his cabin door.

“I’m fine. I’m actually feeling much better.” Flake tells her as he unzips the bag, looking inside. He lets out a small hum. “This all you got?”

“Yeah, we ran into--”

“Grace! Flake, listen!” Sabrina calls out, looking upwards as the similar sound comes into theair again. The three look upwards at the sky, following Sabrina’s eyes as they see the black helicopter suddenly coming towards them. Squinting, Flake can see people inside.

“Shit-- Watch out.” Flake says, Grace suddenly grabs Sabrina’s hand and tugs her aside as the helicopter comes dangrously close to the ground, sending dust flying around them as the helicopter just misses the camp, flying overhead and into the valley bellow the back of the camp, landing right in their back garden.

Robbie and Jessica, alongside Scrap, run outside. Scrap runs, barking loudly as he hears the crash, growling loudly. Several other people come out, including Cooper and his family.

“Doge! Come on!! Stop barking!” Amy calls out, skipping over to Scrap as he stops barking, jumping and wagging his tail as he sees Amy.

“What the hell was that, some sort of helicopter?” Robbie asks as the twins approach the growing group in the center of the camp.

“What the hell is going on?!” Drake calls out as he jumps down the stairs from the guard post and starts running towards the group, although he passes by them and instead heads to the back of the camp. Mark is the first to follow behind, followed by Flake, Grace and the rest.

They stood at the end of the camp, overlooking the cliff as Cooper kept his children away from the edge, Sabrina eyeing Mark before looking down towards the helicopter which now lay in a wreck between the trees.

“What do we do?” Sabrina asks Grace, turning to her.

“We have to go down and investigate, right?” Jessica asks.

“Yeah. I think that would be--”

“No, Grace, It would be dangerous down there.” Drake rebuttles, pointing down to the wreck, “There’s no way those people survived anyways.”

“How do you know for sure? It’s survivable. The wreck isn’t that bad.” Robbie says.

“We’ll sort something out.” Flake says, “Everyone should just… Continue with their day.”

“Can I go down there?!” Mark asks, looking up at Flake and then to Cooper.

“No, son.” Cooper says quietly to him.

“It’s too dangerous.” Grace butts in as she walks past with Sabrina.

Mark frowns, crossing his arms as a group of Grace, Sabrina, Flake, Drake head away, followed by Robbie and Jessica. Molly comes running upto Jessica.

“Jessy!!! Can we play dolls now?!” She asks, wrapping her fingers around the fabric of Jessica’s shirt.

“Hey, maybe later, okay? I have to do something first.” Jessica tells her, stopping to crouch down to Molly’s height.

“Tonight?! I can set up the t-tea party!!” Molly grins, holding out a blonde doll in her hand. “You can be this one!! It looks just like you!!”

Jessica nods, brushing a stray hair away from Molly’s face. “Of course, go play with your sister for now, I’ll be there soon.” She tells Molly before she goes running back to her cabin, meeting Sammy inside.

Jessica stands, turning to Robbie who had stopped to wait for her.

“They really like you, huh?” He asks as they walk side by side.

“Yeah. It’s really nice. It’s kinda distracting from what going on and all.” Jessica says, smiling.

“Is that a good thing?”

“Yeah, It’s good to have a hobby, I guess.”

“A hobby?” Robbie laughs, Jessica rolls her eyes.

“Well. You know what I mean.” She tells him, wrapping her arm around Robbie’s as they follow the group inside.

“Go play.” Cooper says to Mark and Amy.

“But I want to know what’s going on!” Mark calls out.

“You’ll find out soon enough. The adults have to speak for now. Okay?”

“But dad!”

“Mark, just stay with Amy and make sure Harry is okay.” Cooper tells him before making his way away from the kids, leaving Mark sulking and Amy petting Scrap softly.

“We have to go down there.” Jessica immediently says as she enters Flake’s cabin, being met with the group of Drake, Grace, Sabrina and Flake. Following behind her, Cooper and Robbie.

“Are you serious?” Flake asks, making his way behind his desk and flopping into the chair.

“Yeah… There’s gotta be people down there.” Jessica says quietly.

“And food, maybe? They have to have supplies or somethin’.” Drake adds, crossing his arms and leaning agaisnt the wall.

“I mean… I don’t think it’s worth it. It’s very far down. It’ll take you a while.” Flake tells them.

“Come on Flake, how hard could it be?” Cooper says.

“People could get hurt, you don’t know who’s down there.”

“You have to go down there, though, what if there’s people who need help!” Jessica says.

Flake leans back in hi seat, rubbing his eyes and sighing loudly. He leans onto his desk, groaning slightly.

“You know, fine. It’s right in our backgarden so… I guess it might be a good idea.” He shrugs.

“I’ll go with you.” Cooper says, turning to Grace and Sabrina.

“Oh-- She’s not going.” Grace tells Cooper, gesturing to Sabrina.

“Hey, why not?!”

“You have to stay here and take care of the camp, y’know?!” Grace smiles. Sabrina frowns, Grace sighs. “I don’t want you getting into any trouble.”

“We all know you shouldn’t come, Sabrina, yourself included.” Drake says. Sabrina’s head whips to look at Drake, an angry look on her face.

“Did anyone ask you?!” Sabrina snaps.

“Sabby.” Grace says quietly.

“Forget it, okay. I wont come.” Sabrina tells them, pushing Grace’s hand away from her as she makes her way passed Cooper and out of the cabin.

“You didn’t have to say that.” Grace says to Drake.

“Just the truth, Grace.” Drake tells her.

“You’re not coming either. Need somebody to guard the camp.” Grace tells Drake.

“Anyways. Cooper, Robbie, Grace, do you guys mind going?” Flake asks.

“You come with us.” Robbie says.

“I don’t know if I--”

“You should! You’re our leader, very charasmatic. They’ll want to meet you!”

“There’s nobody there ‘’too’’ meet.”

“Come on, Flake! Just do it, You’re a huge help.” Grace says.

Flake grumbles, annoyed. “Fine, but if anyone is alive down there, they better not try and kill me. I’ve had enough of that.”

The helicopter creaks, the trees blocking it from falling flat on the floor as the door moves, jammed against itsself as it suddenly comes flying open. Abreham hangs from the door, coughing and spluttering loudly as he hangs a few inches from the ground. He retches, vomitting down to the floor.

“Fu-- Fuck.” Abreham grumbles, rubbing his head as it thumped in agony. “Wesley?! Janice?!” He mutters, turning to the seats and noticing the window shattered on top of Janice’s body, which lies against the seat, her breathing nonexistant. He leans over her body, grabbing Wesley’s shoulder as he sits slumped against the front of the helicopter.

Abreham pulls back Wesley’s body, propping him up against the seat as he suddenly retches in disgust at the sight, Wesley’s head caved in upon impact with the front of the controls. Abreham proceeded to vomit again, barely missing himself and Janice’s body.

He reached down, unclipping the seatbelt that kept him agaisnt his seat as he groaned loudly in agony, his vision becoming slightly blurred as he pushes himself slightly from the seat, reaching to grab ahold of something as he swings his legs out of the helicopter, looking for a way down.

“Hello?!” He calls out, although merely, his voice dry and inaudible as he pushes himself from the helicopter, guessing that he couldn’t hurt himself anymore than he’s already hurt as he tumbles from the helicopter, falling into the grass below.

He crawls over to a tree, regaining himself as he feels for his metal rod but realising it must have gotten lost or threw from the helicopter upon impact. He sits against the tree, looking to his left and right every so often to check nothing was coming from him. He was pretty much dead if anything came to kill him. He was alright with that.

Bri leans down, a syringe filled with liquid in her hand as a man sat on the bed, leaning agaisnt the wall.

“Are you okay today?” Bri asks as she reaches over, pulling back his short shirt sleeve and injecting him.

“I’m fine.” The man grumbles. “What is that?”

“Vicky asked me to give it to you.” Bri tells him.

“Oh-- Okay.” He says awkwardly as Bri pulls the syringne and places it on the table next to the bed.

“Yeah,” Vicky says from the corner of the room, tapping a pen against the desk, “It’ll help your fever.” She tells him as she scribbles down something hurridly, the door opening as she places the paper on the desk. Connor standing in the doorway.

“Sam, could we have a moment?” Connor asks, walking in.

“Sure.” Sam says, getting off the bed. “I’ll see you later, Bri.” He says before exiting the room. Bri nods, turning and leaning against the bed, her hands behind her back as she watches Connor close the door behind him.

“Is something wrong?” Vicky asks, looking up at him as Connor’s eyes scan the room, causing Bri to become rather uneasy.

“You know. I’m here to check on the supplies.” He tells them, looking around with his eyebrow raised. “Where are they?”

Vicky stands, turning to face Connor but appearing to keep her distance.

“You know that recently people have been coming down with fevers, Conn--”

“Where are they, Vicky?” Connor asks again.

Vicky sighs to herself, turning to Bri.

“Do you mind getting the supplies from the cupboard?” She asks, pulling out a key on a necklace and handing it to her, pressing it into her hand. Bri nods, taking the key and walking to the end of the room.

“Are you enjoying your job here, Bri?” Connor asks as Bri reaches the cupboards, scanning them until her eyes land on the drawer which reads #008.

“Yeah. It’s fine, I guess.” Bri says, unlocking it and pulling it open, taking out a basket which held several bottles of pills and syrups, medication. She turned and held it out.

“Thank you.” Connor said, giving a small smirk as he took the basket from her and propped it onto the table, rummaging through it just a bit as Vicky sat back at her seat, watching him mess up a rather perfectly assembled basket in a few seconds. “Running low?”

Vicky sighs before repeating herself, “You know that people have been coming down with fevers, recently, Connor.”

“Mhm. We can’t always go out to get supplies.”

“Why not?” Bri butts in, asking, her eyes squinting slightly at him.

“This is a very busy community.” He tells her. Bri nods, slight bitterness in her veins as he puts the bottle of pills he was holding in the basket and turns towards Bri, seeming to sense her bitterness as he pushes the basket into her arms. “Make yourself useful.” He tells her before turning to Vicky.

Bri snorts quietly, rolling her eyes as she turns to shove the basket back into it’s place and locking the cupboard again.

Amy raised her arm, like she was holding up a torch, straight into the air. Scrap wagged his tail happily as he looked into her hand, which she held a stick in.

“Ready boy?! Ready?!” She asks, her voice high and excited as she suddenly throws the stick across the camp, Scrap turns and instantly runs after it. “Good boy, Doge!!!”

Sammy, Molly and Mark sit on the grass nearby, Mark absent-mindedly pulling grass from the ground as Molly and Sammy talk about a fantasy world, filled with fairies and a castle big enough to fit all of them inside.

“Oh!! And the castle is p-pink!” Molly grins.

“Good idea… Maybe unicorns live there, too?”

“Sammy?” Mark asks, Sammy looks over at the boy, who holds a clump of grass in one hand and he jabs at it with his finger.

“Yeah?!”

“Where is your mom?” Mark asks. Sammy looks at him confused.

“She went away, why?!!?” Sammy says, crossing her arms, rubbing one of her arms due to the cold breeze that starts coming due to night closing in.

“Hmmm… I don’t know...” Mark shrugs, trailing off from his thoughts.

“She’s still here, isn’t she?!” Molly pipes up, sticking her pinky finger in her mouth.

“Umm. She is, we saw her. She’s just sleepin’...” Sammy adds.

--

“Good boy!!!” Amy grins as Scrap returns the stick, she picks it up and leans down so she can ruffle Scrap’s fur gently, wrapping her arms around the dog. “I had a doggy just like you, Scrap. He was just like you!” Scrap panted slightly, his tongue hanging out as he nuzzled his head into Amy’s chest.

Tanya pulls open the cabin door, dressed in nothing but a long T-shirt and underwear, which is barely covered by the shirt. She jumps as she notices Jessica on the other side, expecting someone else.

“Oh, hey!” Tanya smiles, shuffling to hide her bottom half behind the door. “Can I help you?!”

“Are you busy? Sorry, I just kinda needed to clear my head.”

“Really? Sure. Come in. Have we properly introduced? I’m Tanya” She smiles as Jessica steps inside the shared cabin between the garage survivors. Tanya holds out her hand and shakes Jessica’s lightly.

“Tanya, baby we’re outta-- Oh! Hi!” Nancy grins, stepping out the bedroom at the end of the hall. “Jessy, right?” Nancy’s face slightly turning red, she wears almost the exact same outfit as Tanya, although instead of underwear she wears shorts.

“Jessica, but that’s fine.”

“Sorry, I’m so bad with names. Nice to see you.” She smiles, “Do you want a drink, or anythin’?”

“No, I’m fine, thanks. I was feeling kinda… Lonely, so I just thought I’d pay a visit, see how you’re doing and stuff.”

“That’s so considerate!” Tanya grins as she sits down on the couch, pulling a small blanket over her lap. “Sit, please!”

Jessica makes her way over to the other couch, sitting so she was facing Tanya as Nancy came through with a glass of water for herself, plopping on the couch beside Tanya. “What’s up?”

“I was just thinking, maybe over thinking too much.”

“We all do that!” Nancy says, slightly butting into Jessica’s thoughts. “Was it about your brother?”

“Yeah… How’d you know?”

“Oh, I can just tell. He’ll be fine out there, don’t worry.”

“Thanks. Can I just hang out here for a while?” Jessica asks.

“Of course, we weren’t really planning on doing anything.” Tanya says.

“It’s fine if you want your privacy, but--”

“No, sweetie! It’s okay!”

“I don’t wanna burden you with my dumb stories, uhm, why don’t you tell me about yourselves?” Jessica suggests.

“Hmm, I don’t really know what to say about myself.” Tanya says.

“Tanya likes the aquarium.” Nancy blurts out.

“But not seaworld.” Tanya adds.

“You two are, dating, right?” Jessica asks.

“Yeah.” Nancy smiles lightly.

“It’s not often you come across couples during these times.” Tanya says.

“I’m happy for you guys, It’s good to find someone, especially now.”

Nancy grins, “Have you got anyone?”

“Oh no, not right now.” Jessica says, laughing to herself a little.

“Oh, come on!! You must like someone.” Nancy says.

“I feel like a school kid right now.” Tanya smiles.

“No, not really. I mean, I like everyone here but not in… That way.” Jessica shrugs.

“I get it… Your time will come, Jessy!” Nancy says, pointing her finger out as if she was a witch casting a curse.

Cooper, Robbie, Flake and Grace push through the forestry, Cooper pushes a knife through one of the dead’s head as it stumbles across the grass towards the group.

“Do you think we’ll find anything?” Cooper asks, stepping over a stray branch.

“Hopefully.” Flake says as they look into the distance, black smoke coming from behind the trees and shrubbery.

While approaching, they hear a slight rumble and crash in the distance. The group instantly raising their weapons.

“Be careful.” Cooper says as they step out into the open, Flake leading with Cooper close behind, Grace and Robbie trailing behind.

In the clearing, they can see a helicopter that has crashed to the ground in a trail of smoke, sitting upright with it’s windows smashed and body dented.

“Wow…” Robbie mutters.

“Don’t wander too far.” Flake says as he begins approaching the scene.

“Will it explode?” Cooper asks, looking worridly at the helicopter.

“Don’t be dumb.” Grace mutters, gesturing to Robbie as she makes her way around the other side of the helicopter, holding her gun out in front of her as she turns the corner, Robbie just behind her when she suddenly jumps, her arm raising with her gun as she notices a man sitting on the ground, looking like he’s unable to move. He’s staring at her, not saying a word before clearing his throat.

“Help.” He utters.

“Flake!!” Grace calls out, approaching the man quickly, her gun by her side as she looks downa t him. “Are you okay?!” She asks.

“Shit, do I look alright to you.” The man coughs, robbing his eyes as he slowly stands. Robbie pulling his gun out as he stands, the man looks at them weirdly as the rest of the group, Flake and Cooper, run around to check out what’s going on. “Relax.” The man states.

“Who are you? What happened?”

“My name is Abreham Petrov. I was at an airport until this dumbass decided to pilot a helicopter with no experience.” He chuckles to himself, not exactly meaning his words.

“Were you the dumbass?” Cooper asks curiously, recieving a rather annoyed look from Grace.

“Hah. Maybe I was a dumbass for getting into the ‘copter with them.” Abreham tells him.

“Are there any supplies in the helicopter?” Flake asks, “Do you mind if I check it out?”

“Sure, not like the ‘copter will be much use anymore.”

Flake nods, “Follow me.” He says to Cooper as they make their way to the front of the helicopter.

Flake and Cooper wander around to the helicopter’s front, spotting the three seats in front with a man slouched in his chair, his head dented in as he lay there, dead, no undead traces about him. Flake looked over to the other chair, there he saw a woman snarling slightly, quietly at them as they stood.

“There’s one.” Flake says, pointing. Cooper pulls open the door, Wesley’s body slouching out the door a little as Cooper unbuckles the body. “Be careful, Coop.” Flake tells him before moving to the other side, climbing up and looking at the woman, Janice, who snarls at him, Flake spots the bite arm on her arm.

“Was he riding with the infected?” Flake asks, looking at her bite mark, “She has a bite on her arm.”

“Do you think he was infected?” Cooper asks.

“I’m not sure.” Flake says, taking out a small knife he had taken with him and stabbing Janice in the head, killing her with one swift motion. “Should we ask him?”

“He’ll tell us. I’m sure.” Cooper says, climbing into the helicopter as Wesley’s body tumbles out of the helicopter, landing with a thud. He climbs into the back, taking a look around as Flake joins him.

“Anything in here?” Flake asks, pulling back a blanket to look under it, finding nothing.

“Nothing… Were they just going to fly with no plan in mind?”

“Seems like it.”

Melissa sits on the ground nearby the graveyar,d Darryn’s grave standing tall among the small amount of graves present. She runs her finger along the dirt, bored as she draws patterns.

Carlos walks down until he spots her in the distance, looking at her with sadness in his eyes. He approaches her, careful not to disturb her as he sits beside her. She doesn’t say anything, and he doesn’t say anything back. They sit in blissful silence for a minute.

“Why’re you here?” Melissa finally asks, looking up at Carlos. Carlos appears quite shocked to her question.

“To comfort you, are you alright?”

“I’m fine, thanks. Just thinking.” Melissa tells him, getting onto her knees and looking at Carlos. “So, why’re you actually here?”

“What?”

“Nothing.” Mel sighs, biting her lip.

“Well, I’m here if y--”

“I think I’m pregnant.”

“Where were y’all going before you crashed?” Grace asks Abreham, putting her gun away as Robbie cautiously holds his at his side.

“Nowhere. This guy just comes upto me, saying we have to get out, so I follow him and he brings me to this helicopter, the rest… Well, you know what happened.” Abreham explains. Grace grins slightly at him. “Why’re you smiling?” Abreham asks, eyebrow raised.

“Your accent.” She tells him, slightly laughing to herself, letting out a sharp exhale (what ewas that called again lmfao). Abreham nods, smirking himself while he holds his side slightly.

“Ah, yeah. I get that.”

“Are you bleeding anywhere?” Robbie asks.

“I think so, but I’m fine. I’m not real sore, at all actually. I’ve always had a… Weird tolerence for pain. I’ll be fine.” Abreham tells him.

“So you can walk back with us?” Robbie asks.

“Back with you? You’re very generous…”

“Yeah, well. We’re a small group and we need help to keep things running… Where did you come from? Airport?” Grace butts in.

“Yeah. The airport, been there since the start. I was supposed to be travelling back to my hometown when everything… Started going to shit. So I stayed there with everyone. It just got out of hand, though.” Abreham explains.

“That’s too bad…” Robbie starts as Cooper and Flake come around the corner.

“There’s nothing in that helicopter.” Cooper says.

“We didn’t have much time to prepare ourselves.” Abreham tells him.

“It’s understandable.” Grace says.

“We’ll need to head back now, It’s getting rather dark and It’ll take us a while to get back.” Flake says.

“Yeah, Can you walk, Abreham?” Cooper asks.

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.”

“I’ll help you if you need it.” Cooper tells him.

“Thank you.”

“Do you have a weapon?” Flake asks.

“I did, but I don’t know where it is…”

“Here,” Flake pulls out his smaller knife and hands it to him, “Take this.” Flake tells him as he pulls out his sword.

“Thanks… Nice sword, where’d you get that?” Abreham asks as the group begin moving back to camp.

“It was actually mine before all of this went down. Something I had, it came in useful eventually.” Flake tells him.

The group made their way through the shrubbery and into the forest again, leaving behind the smoking helicopter.

In the darkness, grumbles come into hearing distance throughout the trees of the forest. A small pack of the dead, walk through the trees. This small pack turns from te to twenty… thirty… fourty… A horde of the dead make their way into the forest, towards the wreckage of the helicopter… Towards the camp. The silent forest becoming not-so-silent anymore.

## 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
* Matt LeBlanc as Wesley
* Lilli something i cant remember as Janice
* Unknown Dog as Scrap

## Deaths

* Wesley
* Janice

## Trivia

* shoutout to that busdriver that told me to “Make [my]self useful.” when i was getting on the bus w/my mum i heard u I HEARD UR WORDS THIS ISSUE IS DEDICATED TO U!1!!1 RUDE!1!
* why is this so long YEEZ
* the big mistake was oything dont even PANIC i probably left smthing in that's wrong but u know what u gotta live fast