Dead Weight/Issue 5

## Summary

A group head out to search for supplies however a turn of events changes their course of action.

## Story

Grace leans against a hut, her bed hair everywhere and her shirt tucked inside her pink shorts. She taps her fingers against the wall as she waits. Soon, the door opens and Flake stands on the other side.

“What took you so long?” She asks as he steps out, holding three guns in his hand.

“Doesn’t matter.” Flake tells her, passing her the gun.

Sabrina walks over to the two, her eyebrows furrowed. “Are you all going now?” She asks, crossing her arms.

“Whenever Robbie is ready, yeah.” Flake says, “I’ll be right back.” He says before heading away towards his personal hut where he spends most of his time. Sabrina’s mouth hangs half open, staring at Grace as she prepares the gun, sliding ammo inside.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Grace asks.

“You didn’t tell me you were going out.” Sabrina says.

“I thought it would be best you stayed in this time.” Grace tells her, hanging her arms by her side and letting the gun dangle from her loose grip. Sabrina tilts her head, frowning slightly.

“Why?” She questions.

Grace shrugs, “Do I need a reason?” She questions back, tilting her head to mimic Sabrina’s stance. Sabrina sighs loudly, shuffling in her spot and looking around.

“I just like going out, that’s all.” Sabrina tells her.

“I know, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to do so. You’ve been out a lot lately and besides, I’m sure there’s something around here you can do.” Grace suggests, smiling at her sister as Flake returns, a large sword held in a holder on his back.

“What are you guys discussing?” Flake asks, Sabrina sighs to herself and waves rather sarcastically.

“Nothing. I’ll see you guys when you get back.” She tells them, beginning to walk away.

“Hey!” Grace calls for her, Sabrina turns around with her eyebrow raised. “Love you!” Grace smirks.

Sabrina rolls her eyes, sticking her tongue out before turning and walking away. Grace laughs to herself.

Robbie pulls his shirt over his head.

“Just be careful.” Jessica tells him, Robbie nods as he stares in the mirror in front of him, styling his hair the best he can.

“I’ll try my best. You know that.” Robbie tells her as he begins putting massive amounts of energy into styling his hair. Jessica scoffs.

“You trying to impress someone?” She teases, Robbie shakes his head, laughing.

“Just myself.” He says jokingly, Jessica groans and falls onto the sofa, laying there as he finished fixing his hair. He turned to her. “How do I look?” He asks.

“You look great.” She tells him, shaking her head in disbelief. Robbie nods.

“I’ll see you soon.” Robbie tells her.

“Okay.”

Robbie walks down towards the trio of Grace, Flake and now, Drake.

“There he is!” Grace exclaims, holding up her arms to gesture towards him.

“Are you ready to go?” Flake asks.

“I guess so. It’s been a while.” Robbie tells them, Drake handing over a small pistol towards Robbie, which he takes.

“It’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Drake walks down to the gate, pulling it open and bringing out a knife, taking a quick look as he makes his way out to check for any undead.

“We’ll take the truck.” Drake says, re entering the gate and tapping against the back of the vehicle.

Drake and Flake got in the front while Grace and Robbie jumped in the back. Grace lay back, her head against the front compartment, hands behind her head, almost like she is sunbathing.

Cooper comes walking down to the gates, waving to Robbie and Grace as the truck starts.

Drake starts the car, driving it out of the gate. Cooper closes the gate as the four drive down the hill and out of sight.

The truck bumped and bounced as it made its way down the rocky hill, Grace rubbing the back of her head as it bounced off the car.

“You alright?” Robbie asks her. She nods, smirking as her eyes squint at the sun.

“I’m fine! Just having a rest.” She tells him. Robbie nods, leaning his elbow on the end of the car and propping his head on his hand.

“Understandable.” He says, holding his gun as they drive past an undead, it snaps it’s teeth at the exposed duo but they quickly pass by. Grace sits up.

“How is Jessica?” She asks.

“She’s fine. I think she’s still adjusting.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Change has always been good for her. She adjusts quickly.” Robbie tells her, a small smile on his face. Grace smiles back at him, pushing her hair from her face as it bounces in front of her due to the car.

“What about you?” She questions. Robbie shrugs.

“I do the best I can.”

Amy, sitting with her legs crossed, unraveled and raveled a yoyo on the porch of the cabin. Her head resting in her hand, her lips pursed and a bored look across her face. A small boy toddle sout of the door behind her, reaching up and trying to reach the doorknob to close over the door.

“Amy-- Amy!” He groans, his stubby fingers unable to reach. Amy turns, looking annoyed at the boy. “You need to help me!” He tells her.

Amy stands up, walking over and closing over the door. “Come on you!” She says, picking up the boy and carrying him over towards the stairs. He lets out a loud scream.

“Hey!! Put me down!” He yells, playfully. Amy sits on the stair and starts tickling the boy. He manages to break free and tumble down the stairs, almost falling over. “Ow!”

“What are you doing?” Amy asks him, the small boy brushes dirt away from his clothes and pops his lips.

“I wanted to find dad. I’m hungry.” He says.

“Dad is busy right now, Harry.” Amy tells him.

“Well! Where is Mark!?”

“He’s busy, too.”

Harry looks annoyed, folding his arms.

“Well-- You make me something! I want chicken nuggets!”

Amy sighs. “Not right now.”

“Why not!!”

“You ate breakfast like two hours ago.”

Harry stomps his feet lightly. “So! That doesn’t matter!”

“Just wait for a little.”

Harry sits on the ground, plopping down on the dusty dirt.

Sabrina swung her legs off the end of the camp. The camp ending and a sharp valley below. She stares down, not seeing anything except a small lake. The fence on either side of her cutting off. She leans her head against the side of the fence and stares into the distance, a pe in between her thumb and index finger. Her eyes flutter closed for a second.

“Boo.” A boy’s voice calls from behind her. She jumps slightly and puts her hand on the fence, supporting her as she feels herself almost falling. She turns around, looking up until her eyes meet with Mark’s. “Sorry.”

“You better be.”

“Can I sit with you?” He asks, shuffling towards her until he was practically hovering over her.

“You seem to already be.” She says blandly. Mark sits beside her, his upper body behind the fence and his legs out, his feet just touching her thigh. “What do you want?” Sabrina asks.

“I got bored. Let’s do somethin’.”

“Like what?”

Mark shrugs, scratching his chin. “Maybe we could go out?”

Sabrina looks at him, an annoyed look on her face, her eyebrows furrowed. “Out?” She asks, raising her eyebrows.

“I asked my dad yesterday if we could go down to the valley,” Mark says, shuffling over until he was right next to Sabrina, she shuffles away a little and he points down to the valley below them. “But, he said it wouldn’t be safe. Wanna go?”

“You’re nuts.” Sabrina tells him.

“No! It’s just boring. You get to go out all the time, so I don’t know what the problem is?!”

Sabrina rolls her eyes, turning to look back at the area in front of her. Mark clears his throat, waiting for her to answer.

“I go out with a purpose. Don’t be dumb.”

“What’s your problem? Come on!” Mark says, standing up and leaning over the edge, looking for a way down.

“Sit down.” Sabrina says, loudly. Mark laughs at her, sitting down again and hanging his feet over the edge, trying to find grip on the side below him. He suddenly feels his foot slip, rocks falling out from underneath. Sabrina lurches over and grabs his collar as she fears his death. “Stop!” She screams, tugging him back onto the dirt. He chokes out, thumping on his back.

“I’m just tryna’ have fun.” Mark tells her, sitting up and looking at his elbow. “Look what you did!” He tells her loudly, pointing to his elbow, a red stain on it.

“Wait until your dad knows how you got that.” She says, standing up and picking up her pen. She begins walking away from him. He gets up and follows him.

“He won’t care! He only cares about Amy.” Mark tells her, following right behind her.

“Why do you keep bothering me?!”

“I want to be your friend.”

“Yeah. Thanks but no thanks.” Sabrina tells him, skipping up a cabin’s stairs. Amy looks up at them as they walk past. Mark stops at the bottom of the stairs and Sabrina opens the door, turning around. “Stop following me.” She tells Mark, closing the door.

The truck pulls into a desolate area of the nearby city. Drake rolling down the window and looking out. Flake doing the same thing.

“It’s clear.” Flake says, unbuckling his seatbelt.

“Are you sure?” Drake asks. Flake sits back in his seat and looks at Drake.

“I mean. I g--”

Flake is cut off by a knocking at his car door, Grace waggling her fingers in a wave as she stands outside. “Come on, slowpokes!”

Flake shakes his head, rubbing his forehead as he opens the door, stepping out of the car. Drake gets out, too, locking the truck.

“What are we doin’?” Robbie asks, looking around.

“We should split up.” Grace says, smiling.

“I don’t think so.” Drake rebuttals. “It’s too dangerous.”

“Let’s just stick together, look around a little.” Flake tells the group, gesturing with his hand to follow them. The foursome head down the street, It’s not that warm, a cold wind blowing around them. They cautiously look around, broken glass littering the ground and dead bodies littering the streets.

“Do we know exactly what we’re looking for?” Robbie asks.

“Not really. The car is running out of gas so we’d need to find some of that if we want to make the trip back.” Flake says, pulling out his sword as they turn the corner. In the distance, three of the undead feast on a dead animal on the road. “Be careful.”

The foursome move carefully down the street, Grace taps on Flake’s shoulder and points in one direction. His eyes follow where she is pointing and sees a garage up in the distance, gas pumps outside. He nods, approaching the three undead. One notices them and stands, growling loudly with their teeth exposed, showing the inside of their mouth. Flake slices the head off of the dead in one clean slice, the body tumbling to the ground.

Drake holds up his gun as Flake approaches the other two. One of them attempt to attack him but he uses both hands to jab the sword into it’s eyeball, twisting gruesomely as blood pours from it’s eye. He pulls it out and immediately slices the other’s head in half, the bodies both tumbling to the floor in an instant. Robbie feels the hair on his arms raise, as well as his eyebrows in shock.

“You move well with that thing.” Robbie says as the street falls silent once again. “Did you have practise?” He asks.

“Yeah,” Flake says, swinging the sword to get the blood off of it, “Something like that.”

Jessica’s eyebrows raise as Sabrina slams the door behind her, leaning against it and groaning.

“Are you… Okay?” She asks.

“Yeah. Fine, just annoyed.” She says, making her way to the bedroom and climbing onto her bed. Jessica pushes her lips together before standing up and walking over to the bedroom door, knocking against it.

Sabrina looks up from her bed, eyeing Jessica.

“Wanna talk?” She asks. Sabrina bites her lip, shrugging.

“Sure.”

Flake, Drake, Grace and Robbie looked over the garage. A door leading inside and a large garage door. Flake assesses the front of the building for a minute.

“We should split up now.” Flake says, turning to the group. “Grace and Robbie can take the front. I’ll take the garage with Drake. Is that cool?”

“That’s fine with me.” Drake says, Grace nodding in agreement.

“Be careful.” He reminds Robbie. “We’ll be in and out. It’ll be quick.”

The two groups split up.

“In and out?” Robbie asks Grace.

“In and out.” She tells him

Grace and Robbie approached the door, the red paint flaking off of it. Robbie carefully pushes open the door, the dark building being lit up as the sun adventures into the door. The duo carefully step in, instantly hearing a growling as Robbie feels something push against him, quickly acting he grabs onto an undead which grabs onto him and pushes him against the wall.

Grace pushes her gun onto it’s head, blowing it’s brains out with a pull of the trigger. Robbie pushes the heavy body off of him, it splatters on the floor.

“Thanks.” Robbie says.

“Don’t mention it.”

The two move around the store, Grace jumps over the counter and checks behind it. Knocking over some plastic bottles.

“There’s nothing in here.” Robbie states, running his hand along an empty shelf.

Flake and Drake walks up to the garage doors.

“So, Why did you ask me to come on this mission?” Drake as him as they survey the surroundings.

“Just wanted an extra helping hand,” Flake tells him, going down on one knee and inspecting a metal chain. “Speaking of helping hand, can you help me with this?”

Drake looks down at the chain, it appears jammed as Flake tries to pull on it.

“Here.” Drake leans down, pulling against the chain and unravelling it from it’s jammed area. Flake nods.

“Thanks.” Flake stands back up, pulling the chain up, the rattling making a rather loud noise and the door opening slowly, from bottom to top.

As the door opens, the two hear a cocking of a gun. Their faces full of surprise as they realise what’s inside…

Grace looks along the shelves, checking every single one.

“You were right.” She tells him, sighing.

“I’m sure it all can’t be empty. Let’s--” Robbie is cut off by a gunshot ringing through the area. Grace jumps, looking wide eyed at Robbie. The duo run out of the store.

The gunshot fires. A man holding a gun and a woman, who had just ran up and pushed him, causing the bullet to miss Drake’s head by inches.

“Are you crazy?!” She screams, pushing her hair out of her face. She is wearing a full face of makeup and her blonde hair is up in a ponytail. The man stares at her and then back to Drake and Flake. Behind him, two women and a man stand, in a defensive stance.

“Are YOU crazy?!” He yells.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Grace yells as her and Robbie run out the store, approaching Drake, who has his gun pointed, and Flake.

“Who are you?!” Drake yells, his finger resting on the trigger. Grace side-eyes him, clenching her fist together as she gets ready to pull out her gun, too.

“Just, everyone take it easy.” The man from the back says, stepping forward and putting his hand on the other man’s shoulder. “Put the gun down.”

The man shakes the hand off of his shoulder angrily. Robbie looks around cautiously to keep guard as the confrontation goes down. He stares at Drake, his eyebrows raised and his eyes flicking from the gun to his face. Drake takes the hint and lowers the gun.

“Who are you?” The man asks, keeping his hands slightly upwards. Flake steps forward, his hand that is wielding the sword down and his other up.

“My name is Flake.” He tells them. The man nods, “And you?”

“Carlos.” He tells them.

“Nice to meet you… Carlos. This is Drake, Grace and that’s Robbie.” He tells him, pointing to each of his group. Grace stepping out slowly.

“We didn’t mean to intrude. We’re not going to hurt you.” Grace reassures them. Carlos nods, turning to his side to introduce his crew.

“This is Tanya, Nancy, Melissa and… You’ve met Darryn.” He tells them, Flake inspects everyone, noticing Darryn’s angry looking face, the fire in his eyes, he appears to be shaking his head.

“Do you guys know why you’re here?” Melissa asks, bouncing forward. “I don’t feel like dying today.”

“Melissa.” Carlos says quietly, Melissa looks back at him and then towards the group again, looking at Grace and smiling.

“We needed gas.” Drake says through gritted teeth. “And supplies.”

“We can help you out.” Carlos says, “D’you have a camp?” He asks, looking at the group.

“Yeah!” Grace smiles, Drake looks at her, furrowed eyebrows.

“We’re not interested.” Darryn tells them, straight up. Carlos looks at Darryn, confused.

“But--” Tanya starts, but Darryn cuts her off.

“We can’t go back with you.”

“We could always make a deal. There’s room there for all of you.”

“I said--”

“Guys!!” Robbie yells, holding up his gun suddenly as an undead comes limping around the corner, followed by another… and then another… forty or so.

“Holy shit!” Grace exclaims, pulling out her gun.

“We have to get out of here.” Drake says, beginning to fire against the close approaching horde.

“We’re not going to be able to make it back to the car on time.” Grace says as the group begins backing up.

“we have to go with them.” Nancy tells her group, grabbin Carlos’s hand to try and drag him away. Carlos and Darryn looks at each other, Darryn gritting his teeth.

“We’ll be trapped if we stay here. I’ll take my chances out there.” Melissa says, running to catch up with Flake and the others. Carlos, Tanya and Nancy following. Darryn growls loudly, grabbing a gun from inside the garage as the horde approaches, he shoots one of the undead at close range as he makes it out of the garage, the group begin running.

“Quick! In here!” Grace yells, guiding the group with Flake at her side towards a large museum. They run inside, sliding across the floor and down a corridor, heading up a flight of stairs. The horde closing in as they turn into a showroom, Drake and Robbie both grabbing each door and slamming it shut, closing them inside the dark room.

“We can’t fight them. Can we?” Robbie asks, looking through the small window.

“We don’t have a choice.” Flake says lowly.

Robbie squints, spotting something moving towards him through the window. As he is focusing to see what it is, one of the dead pushes itself onto the window, growling. Robbie stumbles back, managing to catch himself before he falls. The dead growls and snaps its teeth, staring Robbie in the eye as he stares back, growls of the horde growing nearer.

## Cast

* Drew Van Acker as Robbie Starn
* Melissa Benoist as Jessica Starn
* Allie Lewis as Grace Berry
* Brooke Hyland as Sabrina Berry
* Harry Styles as Drake
* Liam Hemsworth as Flake
* Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Cooper
* Malina Weissman as Amy
* Brock Brenner as Harry
* Noah Schnepp as Mark
* Josh Pudleiner as Carlos (Debut)
* Melissa Kirk as Melissa (Debut)
* Najee Temple as Darryn (Debut)
* Q'orianka Kilcher as Tanya (Debut)
* Katie Findlay as Nancy (Debut)