Dead Weight/Issue 11

## Story

“What were you thinking?!” Grace muffles into Sabrina’s shoulder, still holding her in an unbreakable hug.

“I--”

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” She yells again as she breaks again, pulling Sabrina up as she stood up, too, from the ground.

“I’m sorry!” Sabrina says, still slightly shaken but doing her best not to show it. “I just don’t like being cooped up all the time.”

“You almost died!!! I saw that guy put a gun to your head!! What have we talked about?!”

“God! Just leave me alone, okay. I’m sorry. I’m sick of being told what to do all the time.”

Grace fell silent for a minute, biting her lip.

“Oh, Sabby.” She sighed, hugging Sabrina again. “Just-- Don’t do it again!”

“Grace, hate to break the family reunion but--” Drake started, pointing in the distance as some of the undead come wandering towards them.

“Are they starting to come up here?” Sabrina asks, clearing her throat as her voice was shaking.

“Seems like it, let’s go. They’re slow.” Drake says, motioning for everyone to follow him as they took off into the forest. The dead following them until they stopped, smelling the fresh blood and falling to their knees, ripping into the body of the man lying dead on the ground.

Nancy gasped as Tanya finished a story, both the girls laughing outloud as they sat crossed legged on the bed.

“Thank god I didn’t know you in middle school, you would have been a little rebel.” Nancy tells her.

“Well, In tenth grade I did a little bit of drugs.”

“Tanya!!” Nancy gasped, hitting her lightly on the shoulder.

“It wasn’t that bad. I only did it like.. Once or twice, too. It was kinda gross, actually. Had to impress my crush, though.” She shrugs, grinning.

“Who was it?” Nancy asks curiously.

“This girl named Mary. She wasn’t interested, though. I think she actually went on to become a raging alcoholic. So, I guess I dodged a bullet?”

“You probably did, atleast if you were with her, what about me?!” Nancy asks.

“Ugh, silly. Don’t even think about that!” Tanya giggles, leaning over and softly kissing Nancy on the lips.

“Huh, well, I could always get with one of the dead outside.” Nancy says, lying back in the bed. Tanya raises her eyebrow.

“Yeah, like they’d want to get with you.” She smiles, Nancy’s face falls in joking disbelief again, grabbing one of the circular pillows and hitting her roughly.

“Hey!! Stop it!” She calls out, Tanya giggles to herself.

Sally walks down the hallway, her feet carrying her quickly towards the nurses office again, she seemingly becoming much more healthier feeling. A light blush on her face. Connor’s words echoing in her mind, words he had just said no later than a few seconds ago.

***“Think about it,” He smiles, “You’re beautiful, and you know how to survive, can’t let that go to waste.”***

Sally bumped into Bri, who was just coming out of the nurses office. The two girls gasping slightly as they didn’t expect eachother to be there. Bri’s face blew into a light blush, too, as she stood back.

“Are you okay?” She asks, awkwardly as Sally looked a little tired, her eyes drooping and her mind racing.

“Yeah. I just really need to sleep.”

“Oh, okay. Haley gave me a room number, there’s supposibly hundreds of rooms in this place.”

“Just like the warehouse.” Sally comments.

“There you are! I was getting worried.” Haley smiles, approaching the girls once again.

“Worried, why?” Sally asks.

“Oh, you know. Connor can get… A little wordsy at times.” Haley shrugs, “Nothing to fear! Follow me.” She smiles, turning around and making her way down the corridor.

“What are you going to do?” Melissa asks as she lays in bed, looking up at Darryn as he pulls on his boots.

“You know what I’m going to do.” He says, squinting at her as he looks around the empty room, pulling his T-shirt over his head.

“Baby, you know we have more people to worry about than just us.” Melissa says, “Tanya… Nancy… Carlo--”

“Yeah. I know exactly who we’re with.” Darryn says, full of hositility. Melissa raises an eyebrow.

“Wow, you’re still--”

“Don’t, not right now, Melissa.”

“Sorry.” She says meekly, rolling over to face the wall. Darryn shakes his head, grumbling lightly as he heads towards the door, pulling it open and leaving the room.

Bri and Sally reached the room, Haley opening the door and pointing inside.

“There’s only one bed, but I hope that won’t be a problem.” Haley says, Bri and Sally entering.

“That won’t be. You’ve given us so much, thank you.” Sally says, looking at the bed and then to Haley.

“No problem. We strive to make the world a better place, it is the strong that survive.”

Sally gulps, Haley waving to them as she closed over the door.

“Do you have a favorite side to the bed?” Bri asks, sliding onto the bed.

“Uh-- no.” Sally says, laughing lightly.

“Okay, good. I love the side to the window.” Bri smiles.

“Why?”

“I like the natural sunlight to wake me up.” She says. “I also like nature, but-- Hey, what did Connor say?” Bri asks, suddenly changing the subject.

“Oh, Connor? Nothing!” Sally smiles, sitting on the top of the bed, not facing Bri but just hanging her head, biting her fingernail.

“Doesn’t seem like nothing.” Bri says quietly, standing up and exploring the rest of the room, although she didn’t find much except a small bathroom. “Was this a hotel?” She wonders to herself.

“He asked--” Sally starts, but she cuts herself off.

“What?” Bri asks, moving back to the bed and sitting beside Sally as she lifts her head up, sighing towards the cieling. “I want to get in on this… Leader guy sidekick role.”

“He said if I was injured, they don’t take injured people lightly here. So, he said that if I wanted too… He’d uh…” Sally says, Bri blinks awakrdly, just staring at Sally as she wasn’t sure what she was going to say. “He offered some sort of… Relationship. Like… Sexually... Or something.” She tells Bri, the word sexually a mere whisper, Bri’s eyes widen.

“What?! He’s a pig. You deserve... *Better* than that.” Bri says.

“It’s… Whatever.” Sally sighs, “I guess I’ll just die!”

“No, Sally. This is a perfect oppertunity, actually. I mean, what if he’s actually a cool guy?! What if you fall inlove?! True love, Sally??”

“This isn’t Disney.”

“Oh, no. Not really. It’s not PG.” Bri shrugs. Sally shakes her head, lightly laughing to what Bri said.

Darryn rummaged through the food supplies, checking each tin, counting the water bottles and throwing together a small pile of food.

“What are you doing?” A small voice chirps from behind him, he turns around, noticing Harry standing right beside him, the tip of his tongue lightly hanging from his mouth subconciously.

“Nothin’.” Darryn replies blandly, turning back around and continuing his work.

“Do you need some food?? My daddy makes a cool dindins!” Harry tells him.

“Harry!!” Another voice calls, running down, Molly meets at his side, looking at Harry before looking down at Darryn. “What are you two doing?!” She asks.

Darryn sighs, knowing he isn’t going to be able to do anything today, he stands up.

“Nothing, what are you doing?” Darryn asks, trying to be as playful as possible.

“We made babies!!” Harry giggles, his hands pressed against his cheeks. Molly opens her hand and shows the single dandelion seed, crushed in the palm of her hand.

“See!!”

“That’s nice.” Darryn says, beginning to walk away.

“Do you want to say hello?!” Molly asks, following Darryn with Harry close behind. Darryn rolls his eyes, turning around and grinning.

“Of course.”

Molly holds out her hand, up as far as she can to Darryn’s face. He looks at the small seed in her hand.

“Hello…” He says, just as he says this a small gust of wind suddenly takes the seed out of Molly’s hand and into the air.

“OH NO!!” Molly and Harry both scream out, running after the seed with all their strength and will. Darryn quickly makes his way from the kids, instead heading down towards the gates. He stops, eyeing the weapons cabin and suddenly an idea comes to his head.

*“But she has promises to keep,*
Until then she shall not sleep.

She lies in bed with ducts that weep.

*Because I could not love for affection,*
It did kindly love for me.

Are you upset by how factual it is?

*Just like a fire, is the hate.*
Does the hate make you shiver?

Does it?

*The touch that's really motherly,*
Above all others is the kiss.

Does the compassion make you shiver?

Does it?

*Because I could not yearn for love,*
You did kindly love for me.”

Flake scribbles down a poem onto the paper. At the top, the word “*Mother II*” is scrawled in fancy lettering. He signs the bottom with “*Sebastian C. Flake*” and puts his pen down, folding the paper and opening a drawer in his desk, filled with pieces of paper and a large book. He places the piece of paper inside and closes it over.

His eyes flicker up as he hears the front gate opening. He stands, pulling on a jacket and heading out of the darkened cabin.

Robbie, Grace, Sabrina, Carlos and Drake make their way inside the camp. Cooper welcomes them back. Jessica wanders down, Scrap bobbing along right behind her.

“You found her.” Jessica smiles, referring to Sabrina. Sabrina nods, smiling slightly at Jessica before walking at a quicker pace, away from everyone.

“Yeah. She’s alright. Just a little shaken.” Grace says, biting the inside of her cheek, looking up as Flake approaches them.

“You got her, huh? Is she alright.” Flake asks, his hands stuffed inside his jacket.

“Yeah. She’s fine. You?”

“Better than Sabrina, probably.” Flake says.

Darryn approaches, looking at the group.

“What’s going on?” Darryn asks.

“Nothing. That should be it with all the problems now.” Flake says.

“Yeah. Sure.” Darryn says, a little bit more sarcastic than he’d liked. Flake stares at Darryn before turning back to Grace.

“Do you need anything?” Flake asks her.

“No. I’m just going to make sure she’s okay.” Grace smiles, making her way, following Sabrina. As she passes Flake, she rubs his arm slightly as a silent thank you.

“Okay. Drake, can we talk?”

“Oh. I actually wanted to talk to you.” Darryn says to Flake.

“Can it wait?”

“Yeah. I guess.” Darryn nods as Harry and Molly run past.

“I got it!!” Harry calls out, picking up something from the ground and showing her it. Molly’s face scrunches up.

“That’s dirt!!”

Melissa knocks lightly on a door before pushing it open.

“Nancy? Tanya?” She asks quietly, making her way inside as both girls sit up on the bed, covered in small feathers from the pillows.

“Yeah?!” Tanya calls out. Melissa enters the room and closes the door behind her.

“I feel awful.” Melissa tells them.

“What’s wrong, dear?” Tanya asks, turnign to face Melissa, pillow on her lap as she rests her head against the wall. Nancy sits at the edge of the bed, leaning over so her elbows rest on her knees, head in one hand.

“I think Darryn is going to do something real stupid. I didn’t want to stop him though.”

“What is he going to do?” Nancy asks, standing up and approaching Melissa, comforting her by taking her hand and leading her over to the bed, sitting down with her. Melissa sighs.

“He’s being a prick. I mean, I love him, but he wants to leave and rob this place, or take over, whatever comes first -- Please tell me you wont tell anyone.” Melissa asks, Nancy nods frantically, rubbing Melissa’s hand comfortingly.

“Can I tell you the truth?” Nancy asks. “I think Darryn is an *asshole*.” Melissa sighs, spotting Tanya nodding from beside her.

“He’s not that bad.”

“Sweetie, he’s aggressive and I think a *tad* dangerous.” Tanya chips in.

“How we survived in that garage for over a month with him is unknown to me.” Nancy says, “He can get over dramatic at times, which I guess is a character flaw he needs to work on.” Nancy says.

“I guess, but we have to stop him.” Melissa says.

“I don’t think you can stop Darryn. Once he’s set his mind on something, he’ll probably do it.”

Flake closes the door behind him.

“What did you want to see me about?” Drake asks, plopping into a chair and rubbing his eyes.

“I wanted to talk to you, about Sabrina.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’m worried about her and I just want to discuss our options. We can’t have anyone do that again. Today you four could have died.”

“The forest is safe, Flake, there’s barely any dead.”

“So nothing happened today?”

Drake adjusts in his seat uncomfortably. He considered covering for the sisters, but then again, he didn’t think they’d do the same for him. “Well. No, we ran into a man.”

“What did he do?” Flake asks.

“He just attacked her, Sabrina, but it’s fine. You don’t need to worry about it. It was taken care of, nobody was harmed.”

“So you think she was okay to go out on her own?”

“No.” Drake says. “If we hadn’t showed up, she would have died. I’m just thinking that she won’t do it again now, you know? After today, I doubt she’ll want to go outside the walls.”

“If you’re certain. You need to keep an eye on them.”

“Aren’t you closer to them, you should do it.”

“Both of us. I mean, Grace trusts me but I can’t be snooping on her sister like some sort of creep. She’s overprotective, which is good.”

“Yeah. Well. I’ll get on that. I have to go clean myself up.” Drake says, getting up and saying goodbye to Flake, opening the door and making his way out, bumping into Darryn on his way out.

“Is Flake done?” Darryn asks him.

“Talking? Yeah. He’s in his cabin.” Drake tells him in passing, Darryn nods and walks to the cabin, tucking his shirt over a gun in the back of his pants.

Darryn knocks on the door, pushing it open and spotting Flake sitting at the desk, lit by the candle light as he admires his sword.

“Oh. Hey. What’re you doing?” Darryn asks, stepping inside and closing the door over.

“Just… Thinking. What’s up, Darryn?” Flake asks, placing the sword on his desk as he makes his way to the front of it, leaning against it.

“I just wanted to talk to you. About the situations, about everything.” Darryn says.

“Okay… Continue.” Flake says, interested to know where this conversation was going, tapping his fingers against the wood of the desk.

“You need to know some things about my group.” Darryn tells Flake.

“Okay.”

“We don’t do well with dictatorships. Honestly, they’re a little sad. One guy in charge of a dozen people? Sounds pretty cliche.”

“What are you getting at?”

“Leaders are no good unless they’re strong and capable of doing what’s right.” Darryn tells him, stepping closer. “If a leader can’t do what’s right, then what sort of leader are they?”

“Do you see yourself as a leader?” Flake asks.

“Yes. I know I’m capable, but I’m not in charge of my group, nobody is. This group? However, has one clear leader. You.”

“Correct.” Flake says. “This is my place.”

“Yes. You know we got off on the wrong foot. I know you don’t like me, but I’m here to make a proposition.”

Flake nods, his eyes squinting ever so slightly, suspiciously. Darryn adjusts his shirt, clearing his throat before continuing with his “speech”.

“Give up your position as leader and we’ll have no problems.”

“Excuse me?” Flake asks, gripping his fingers against the edge of the desk.

“You heard me, loud and clear.”

“You’re telling me you don’t like dictatorships. However, you appear to be trying to create one. With yourself incharge.” Flake says, his eyes lingering down as Darryn adjusts his hands on his hips. He immediently retained eyecontact with Darryn. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

“Kill you, why would you think that?”

“Oh, come on Darryn. Nobody says this without a backup plan.” Flake says, leaning his upper body closer to Darryn. “And your backup plan is needed, because I refuse your offer.”

As soon as Flake saw Darryn’s lips turn into a grin, he reached on the desk, gripping his sword as he swings it forward, slicing upwards and into Darryn’s stomach. Darryn gasped out, gasping for air as the sword entered his lower abdomen.

“I get things done, t--” Flake begins, but he feels a bullet enter his torso, the gunshot firing throughout the cabin as his reflexes kick in, he slices the sword out and as he feels himself tumble backwards towards the desk, he uses his strengths to slice Darryn’s head, slicing halfway through Darryn’s skull, killing him.

Flake collapses to the floor, bleeding through the side of the body. His whole body aching as he starts fading out of consciousness.

*(Day 6)*

Sally steps out of the shower, turning off the water. She sighed, turning towards the mirror and using her towel to wipe the steam off of the mirror before wrapping it around her body, rubbing her eyes as she had just woken up a few minutes ago. The morning coming quicker than she had expected.

She dried her hair, rubbing it frantically with a towel before tying to around her head. She opened the bathroom door, the steam flooding out into the main room and disappearing into the air as she stepped out. Her eyes widening as she noticed Connor standing by the bed, leaning against the table at the side.

“Good morning.” He smirks, gesturing with his head to the bed, “Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah. It was fine, thanks.” Sally tells him, making her way over to the bed and grabbing her clothes that she had lain out, using her other hand to support her towel to make sure it didn’t fall from her body.

“Did you consider yesterday?”

“Uhh- Yeah. I mean. I don’t know.” Sally says, picking up the last of her clothes. “I’m just going through alot right now.”

Connor raised his hands up. “I know, I know. It’s just a system.”

“I’m almost better but uh. Later I’ll come with a decision.” Sally tells him, heading into the bathroom and placing her clothes on top of the pile of towels. “Where’s Bri?” She asks, turning to look over her shoulder at Conner.

“I sent her to get food, thought It’d be time that you’d have a good amount of food to start your day. Am I right?”

“Very right.” Sally smiles at him, heading over to the door, “Excuse me.” She says, closing over the door until it clicks closed. She turns the lock and turns to lean against the door, sighing heavily and covering her face with one hand, feeling suddenly rather overwhelmed.

Connor shakes his head, getting up from his leaning position and leaving the room, heading down the corridor and disappearing down the stairs.

*(Day 5)*

*Grace feels her feet taking her as fast as she has ever ran, her legs moving exceptionally fast as she grabs the railing to a cabin, swinging herself up the stairs, throwing herself into Flake’s cabin as what she sees shocks her. The dim light giving her a clear view as opposed to the moonlight outside.*

*“Holy shit, Flake!” She gasps, almost tripping over Darryn’s body as she enters, her foot stepping in the puddle of blood forming around his head. Flake grumbles, holding his wound as he has managed to pull himself up onto the seat, his eyes falling heavy as Grace makes her way over to him, slapping him lightly on the face, recieving a curse towards her from Flake. “Stay awake!”*

*Sabrina manages to catch up with Grace, sliding inside and letting out a small gasp. She raises her foot as she spots the blood, avoiding it as it seeps through the floorboards.*

*“Get the medical kit!” Grace calls out, grabbing everything from the desk and beginnign to practically throw it to the floor. Flake grumbles out something, but she can’t seem to hear him. She throws stray pieces of paper off of the desk and grabs Flake’s hand, throwing his arm around her neck as she attempts to lift him onto the desk, but not being able to manage. “Fuck!”*

*Robbie enters, hearing the commotion, with Drake right behind him.*

*“What the fucking FUCK!?” Drake yells out, pushing past Robbie to view the situation.*

*“Help ME!!” Grace aggressivly calls out. Robbie snaps out of his slight daze and makes his way across the cabin as Sabrina returns, holding a small med kit in her hand. “Is there any doctors in that new group of Carlos’?!”*

*Flake grumbles a bit, although it’s more of a laugh as Robbie and Grace pull him onto the desk, his body falling limp over it.*

*“I don’t think so.” Drake says, “I think we’d know.”*

*“FIND OUT?!” Grace yells as she slams the medical kit on the spare piece of the desk, ripping it open.*

*“Do you need anything?” Sabrina asks, shoving her hands into her pockets.*

*“Yeah. We need to fix this.” Grace says.*

*“My friend was a trainee nurse, she told me some things. I don’t know how much was right, though, she wasn’t that far into her course when shit went down.”*

*“I don’t care. Come on, we have to help him. How did this happen?!”*

*“Maybe we should question why they’re both in this mess in the first place.” Drake says.*

*“I don’t think anybody else heard, We have to keep this between us until morning comes.” Grace tells them.*

*“Jessica heard, she’s trying to keep the kids quiet.”*

*“Okay.” Grace says, picking out a scalpel. “Will this work?”*

*“Better than anything, I guess.”*

*“I’m so sorry, Flake.” She whispers before she rips his shirt, throwing it up his body as she reveals the wound, just above his hip.*

*“Use this.” Robbie tells her, “Before you do anything, It helps. It’ll burn a little, though.” He says, giving her a small bottle.*

*Grace unscrews the bottle, holding it above Flake’s bullet wound.*

*“Sorry.” She says, although rather unsympathetically, she tips the bottle and pours some of it on his bullet wound as Robbie quickly grabs Flake’s sword, using the handle to place against his teeth. Flake’s muffled screams fill the cabin as Grace begins dabbing it along his wound with her t-shirt, lightly as she leans in.*

*“Sabby, come here.” She says, Sabrina make sher way quickly around the desk, standing next to her sister as Flake’s body jerks upwards, his hand grabbing Grace’s shoulder, trying to control his pain but trying not to hurt anyone.*

*“What is it?”*

*Grace explained to her, in as much detail as possible, what to do. As Sabrina helped Grace dig out the bullet and hold pressure to the wound, she felt the blood seep onto her skin and cover the palm of her hands with red, sticky blood.*

*This continued throughout the night... Flake's life hanging in the hands of The Berry Sisters.*

## 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
* Najee Temple as Darryn

### Supporting

* Q'orianka Kilcher as Tanya
* Katie Findlay as Nancy
* Andrea Boehkle as Bri
* Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Cooper
* Malina Weissman as Amy
* Brock Brenner as Harry
* Noah Schnepp as Mark
* Sanai Victoria as Sammy
* Ariana Greenblatt as Molly
* Harry Styles as Drake
* Unknown Dog as Scrap

### Guest

* Billy Burke as Connor
* Janel Parrish as Haley Reed
* Antonia Thomas as Vicky