Dead Weight/Issue 30

**Issue 30** is the thirtieth issue of Dead Weight. It is entitled *The Future Kind* and was released June 4th, 2019.

## Previously on Dead Weight...

Drewryville lost contact with a nearby settlement, so devise a plan to scout them to see what went wrong. Meanwhile, Sabrina is making new friends.

## Story

Melissa wandered into the open garage. A damp looking room connected to somebody’s home. It wasn't much, but it was definitely something.

“Hey, you.” Cassie smiled, emerging from behind a row of shelves, clutching a tin of soup in her hand.

“Hi.” Melissa merely replied.

“Do you need something?”

“Just passing time.”

There was a long pause which was broken by the sound of glass smashing.

“Shit!” A man yelled. Curious, and a little worried, Melissa followed Cassie down the shop until she came across a man, picking up pieces of glass from a smashed flashlight.

“Oh, Alex! Are you alright?” Cassie asks him, approaching quickly to help him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m so sorry. I was looking for a flashlight for Buck and Amanda, their lantern got broken,” He tells her, his hands quivering slightly as he placed the flashlight down on an empty part of the shelf.

“You don’t seem too good,” Cassie commented.

“I’m just tired, that’s all. You should be, too.”

“I’m coping,” Cassie told him firmly before turning towards Melissa, “This is Melissa, You two haven’t met right?”

“No, no. I don’t believe so. Good to meet you,” He kindly smiles, Cassie moves towards him, taking the glass he had collected carefully into her hand.

”I’ll get rid of this.” She offers, moving away before he could object.

“I’ve seen you around,” Alex tells her, watching Melissa as she slips her hands into her pockets and scans across the scattered shelves. “Are you settled okay?”

“Yeah, we’re fine.”

“Your crew seem very smart, we’re lucky to have you!” He tells her before sighing loudly.

“Is there something wrong?” She asks.

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, but you haven’t got any other arrangements, have you?”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re having a hard time keeping track of supplies. Nobody else wants to do the job, there’s just too much going on. Everytime someone new comes in they’re snagged up in some other commitment, they--”

“You want me to help out here, I get it.” Melissa interrupts, catching Alex off guard.

“Only if you’re up for it.” He reassures. She bites at the inner corner of her lip, shrugging her shoulders and releasing her hands from her pockets.

“Sure. I guess I can pitch in, to say thank you.” Her eyes catch sight of what she had entered looking for in the first place. Alex watches her, bending down into a posture which resembled that of a frog, and pointed lazily to the bottles of wine and other alcoholic drinks sitting in cans under the shelves. “In return, can I steal some of these?” She asks him, noticing Cassie had returned and was approaching them now.

Alex leans to have a better look underneath, counting them in his head. “Sure.” He finally says, folding his arms.

“Why do you need them?” Cassie questions.

“Sometimes you’ve gotta celebrate what you’ve got, while you’ve got it.” She simply tells her.

—

“So. They just burnt the place down, Patrick and his group…?” Flake questioned suspiciously. He eyed the remaining burnt rubble as he held an empty gasoline canister in his hand.

“It looks that way.” Jamie spoke.

“That’s fucking stupid.” He dropped the canister, letting it bounce off the ground and echo through the room.

“But why would they do that?” Jacob asks, kicking at a pile of rubble, the pieces scattering across the floor.

“Maybe you weren’t the only ones that they tried to cut connections with.” Grace suggested, an eyebrow raised. “This was Patrick’s revenge for trying to escape.” She gestures upwards, nowhere in particular.

“Well then we should get out of here.” Jamie turns to Katie. “I suggest strongly we leave.”

“But there can’t be NO survivors.” Katie stresses, scratching her head. “It doesn’t make any sense, Jacob you saw how many children lived in this school, along with the adults there must have been hundreds.”

“There must be more of Patrick, then, if he can take out such a big group.” Jacob tells her.

“Pessimistic,” Katie grumbles lowly, “it doesn’t make any sense.” She repeats.

“Can we please get out of here?” Jamie reiterates. Finally getting Katie to agree as she nods her head hesitantly.

The group make their way back towards the exit, Abreham eyeing behind them for anything they missed. Spotting something jutting out from a black mass. He approaches and pulls a small shoe from the burnt wood and falling apart fabrics. It was hard for Abreham to tell what it had been before — hard until he noticed the string, attaching a piece of wood to a curved shape of the moon. Looking down at the shoe again, he saw how neatly it fit in his hand.

From behind, Tanya approached. Cautiously putting her hand on his shoulder, he shuddered at her touch and the thought of what had happened. He drops the shoe.

“Are you alright?” She asks, her face a painted picture of distress. His was no different.

“I’m fine.” He spoke, rising to his feet. He took her hand in his and squeezed tightly for a brief moment before letting it drop to her side again. “Let’s get out of here, yeah?” He suggested and together they left the school behind, meeting up with the others under the watchful eye of a hunter stalking its prey...

—

Sabrina sat on the bed awkwardly.

“Where is he?!” Amanda complained, getting up from her perched position at the window and opening the bedroom door. The inside was painted pink while the outside was white. Down the hallway, Sabrina heard the sound of a toilet flush and a few seconds later she peeked her head to the side and watched the door open and out step a young boy, although he seemed older than Sabrina herself — and Amanda.

“My star sign tells me I’m going to have misfortune in my love life,” he exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed in dramatic sadness. “What a load of piss!” He made his way to the bedroom, Amanda taking her seat at the window. The boy threw the magazine on the bed besides Sabrina before looking at her oddly, and she stared back. “Wait— who are you?!”

“This is Sabrina.” Amanda told him, to which he grinned widely.

“Sabrina aye, when’s you get here then?” He helps his hand out for her to shake and she did, rather awkwardly. His damp hands meeting with her sweat soaked ones, a disgusting mixture that made Sabrina regret her decision to even be there.

“Few weeks ago,” she told him, “I’m with my sister and, some other friends.”

“A sister, aye. That’s cool and all, but I’ve got to,” he paused in order to climb on top of the bed, shimmying behind Sabrina and lying on his stomach. “I just had a colossal shit, I wouldn’t go in the bathroom for a while ladies, I need time to breath before I go talking about any sisters of yours.”

“What are you, a pervert?” Sabrina snapped. He pushed himself up, so half of his upper body was off the bed, and looked at her.

“A pervert?! Who are you calling a perv?!” He exclaimed, causing Sabrina to exhale a small laugh.

“You haven’t even introduced yourself.” Amanda told him, “like, proper told her your name or anything.”

“Well excuse me, she was busy being rude.” He bounced himself off of the bed and held out his hand again. “I’m Brendan, in case you were wondering. Brendan Lincoln if you were considering taking my surname.”

“Pack it in, freak.” Amanda butted in. Sabrina just turned to him and stared at his hand in disgust.

“Sabrina Berry.” She replied. He smiled at her before going on another tangent.

“You know what the worst thing about the end of the world is?” He waited for one of the girls to reply, but none did. “There’s no more magazines, so my horoscope is the same forever now,” he frowns, “Fuck!”

—

The sun appeared to be setting now, which wasn’t great news for those travelling by horse. Katie stared at the sky ominously.

“We should be back before there’s no light.” She reminded everyone as they trotted along blissfully, “although we might need to go a few extra miles per hour.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m sure we’ll make it.” Jacob told her.

"Watch out." Katie said, pointing towards the clearing infront of them where a young boy lay. He was dirtied and had a snapped spear lying at his side.

And she was right, approaching the flat, dirtied clearing the boy lay lying in the mud, clutching a broken spear in one hand as blood stained his other hand and sleeve.

The group were forced to stop their horses, hopping off and making their way over to the boy. Tanya inspected him, looking for his major injuries in an attempt to save him.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Jamie called out.

“Tanya, is he—“ Abreham was cut off by the boy leaping to his feet, knocking Tanya off her feet. He grabbed the top half of his spear and bounced back, holding his spear out in defense.

“What is going on?” Katie asked, looking around she noticed the group of children beginning to surround them.

“Guys.” Robbie blurted. The group of five became ten, became twenty as they made their way from the nearby grass and buildings. Some approaching their horses, the majority surrounding the group as they stared on in seemingly defeat.

A blonde girl, seemingly no older than fourteen, stepped out from the others.

—

## Cast

### Main

* Drew Van Acker as Robbie 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
* Andrea Boehkle as Bri
* Jackson Rathbone as Abreham
* Eliza Taylor as Katie

### Supporting

* Q'orianka Kilcher as Tanya
* Ariana Greenblatt as Molly
* Song Min-ho as Jacob
* Solána Imani Rowe as Jamie

### Recurring

* Emily Browning as Lexy
* Harley Bird as Amanda
* Hannah Murray as Friday
* Jenna Louise Coleman as Cassie
* Brighton Sharbino as Kaaitlyn

### Guest

* Unknown as Pig
* Katherine McNamara as Athena
* Jason Bateman Patrick