Dead Weight/Issue 24

This is the twenty-fourth issue of Dead Weight. It is entitled '*Sleeping With The Devil’*. It is the sixth issue in Arc 2 of Dead Weight. Issue 24 was released March 21st, 2018.

## Previously on Dead Weight

In the quest to find her long lost family, Jessica was bitten. With no time left, Robbie must decide what to do.

## Story

Jessica Starn lay withering on the cold floor of the marketplace. Surrounded in her own blood, her eyes half open as she bled out on the floor. Above her, Flake, Grace and Robbie looked over her. Robbie was shaking, his whole world shattering down around him as he swayed from side to side, everything a blur as he fell to his knees. Flake lurched out, attempting to stop him from crashing to the floor, but it was too late. Robbie collided with the floor with a loud thud, the only sound that seemed to fill the room. There was only a handful of people left inside the marketplace, who didn’t say a word or whispered among themselves. Robbie let out a sob, which sounded like something had snapped inside of him and that was it echoing out. His eyes overflowed with water as they dripped into the puddle of his sister’s blood.

He tried to get words out, his lips moving and quivering but nothing came out except squeaks and muffled groans. Robbie took Jessica’s hand in his, her hand which was coated with red.

“It--”

“Shut up, Oli.” A man imemdiantly cut off the other attempting to speak, breaking the silence that previously flooded the room.

Connor looked down at his gun, slowly refilling it with bullets that had been sitting close by on one of the tables. Everyone watched, like eagles in the sky. Connor’s footsteps from the table back to his fellow men sounded like thunderstorms.

“What do we do?” Grace whispered lowly to Flake, her lips curved into an unstoppable frown. Flake didn’t say much, he just looked at her and shrugged.

“Maybe we should get out of here.” Flake suggested, looking to Robbie.

Robbie leaned over Jessica’s body, placing his two fingers over her neck, feeling for a pulse. She was gone, her heartbeat unrecognizably dead as Robbie let out a sob again, his face screwing up in anger, complete rage washed over him as Connor had finished loading his gun, the sound of the gun bringing Robbie’s attention to him, his head slowly rising to see Connor partially holding the gun up towards Robbie.
“You can’t let her turn.” Connor tells him, taking a stride forwards as Robbie lurches forwards, holding his hand out towards Connor defensivly over his sister’s corpse.

“NO.” Robbie yells, Connor holding the gun up in self defense as Robbie rises to his feet. “You did this. You caused this.” Robbie says angrily, his voice rising with every word, his blood beginning to boil. “This place was made to slaughter us.”

“Robbie.” Flake urged through gritted teeth, approaching him steadily. “Let’s not do this here.”

“We brought you here to protect you.” Connor tells Robbie, leaning in closer towards him. “I thought you would be a little greatful that we’re still doing it now.” A gunshot. Robbie’s whole body shook, as did Flake’s as Connor fires straight past them, down to the floor and into Jessica’s skull. Robbie’s whole body stop shaking with fright and instead started shaking with pure, unfiltered rage.

Robbie turned, something inside of him changing, shifting. He pushed Flake away from him, almost knocking him down as he easily glided Flake’s sword from it’s holster, pulling it across Flake’s shoulder with ease. Flake attempted to stop him, shocked at the sudden turn, Flake’s finger almost completely slicing off.

Robbie turned, holding the sword and in one clean swoop he turned to slice Connor in half, he didn’t care were, it would hurt and that’s all that mattered. Oli called out, a sudden reaction causing him to jump in front of the sword and take the blow to his head, saving Connor from death as Connor managed to catch the man in his own arms, the sword digging into the side of Oli’s head as he fell to the ground with a thump. Connor’s gun falling to the floor underneath his body.

Grace stood back, shocked at the aggression that Robbie was showing. Flake instantly grabbed Robbie from behind, wrapping his arms around his neck and grabbed at his wrists, Robbie dropped the sword and elbowed Flake away from him.

Everyone began screaming again, the cries of onlookers filled the market once again as the remaining residents took off, all except Sally, who simply watched with tear stained cheeks, her eyes overflowing everytime she blinked, she sat on the stair with her arm around the bannister. She sniffed, trying to compose herself, she couldn’t look away, she was seemingly transfixed on staring at her dead friend and nothing else.

Connor took a moment to compose himself, processing what had just happened in front of him.

“Listen. Listen he didn’t mean--” Flake began but Connor turned to Dean, running his hand along his jaw as he was thinking of what to say.

“Get your gun.” Connor told Andrew and Flake knew that was when they had to leave. Andrew nodded hesitantly, Flake grabbed Robbie roughly by his collar and threw him out of the door, almost collapsing into Grace’s body. Flake picked up his sword and turned to Connor as he walked towards where his pistol fell, kicking over Oli’s body to retrieve it.

“We can talk about this.” Flake said, backing up. Connor only raised his gun, prompting Flake to duck behind the door and take off. As quickly as it had started, the mourning was over and the hunt had begun.

Flake, Grace and Robbie had made it away from Connor and Dean, for now. Robbie looked behind him, noticing the coast was clear before sinking to his knees. Grace and Flake having to stop to get him up.

“What are you doing?! GET UP.” Flake insisted, trying to take charge of the whole situation. Robbie wouldn’t move, instead he punched the wall in anger, and again, again and again. Flake insisted he stopped, grabbing at Robbie’s arms as he continued to thrash about like a child.

“I can’t watch this.” Grace practically screamed, running a hand through her hair. “I’m going to get the others.”

“Be quick.” Flake told her, letting her run off. Flake let go of Robbie, letting him climb to his feet once again, using the wall as support.

“I’m going to kill them all.” Robbie told Flake.

“You try that and you’re a dead man, do you hear me? Jessica wouldn’t wan--”

“Well then what would she want?! Huh?! She’d want to be alive, with her family. But instead she’s dead, she’s dead and suffering and we have to carry on, alone. I want everyone who was there dead.”

Flake shook his head, “She’s not suffering. Not anymore.”

“You don’t know--” A gunshot cut him off, the bullet lodging itsself in the wall. Connor and Andrew walked towards them as they lunged into action again, Flake partially dragging Robbie around the corner as they fired at them again, barely missing.

“Go.” Flake tells Robbie, shoving him backwards.

“What’re you goin’ to do.” Robbie snaps.

“Bide you some time.” Flake snaps back, pointing to the door just a few feet away. “Go.” Flake urged before turning back.

Connor and Andrew slowed their pace, Andrew leading as they walked carefully up the hallway.

“Come out, we can talk about this.” Connor says, keeping his eyes locked on the end of the hallway, holding his gun tight. Just as Andrew reached the bottom of the hallway, Flake’s sword came out, slicing down his arm. Andrew screamed, half his arm dropping from his body, blood oozing everywhere as he screamed out in agony. Flake turned Andrew’s body, although he didn’t need to do much as Andrew’s first reaction was to retreat back to Connor for assistance.

Connor hesistated, watching as Flake shoved his sword into Andrew’s back, using the man as a sheild.

“N-N--” Andrew tried to plead for his life, but it was too late, Connor opened fire on the dying man in an attempt to kill Flake. Flake, however, pushed Andrew forward, causing him to tumble into Connor. At the same time, Flake’s sword slipped from his grasp, staying lodged inside Andrew’s body as he collapsed to the floor, the handle of the sword getting stuck between the wall and Andrew’s body.

Connor realised Flake was defenceless. “Surrender.” Connor demanded. “Nobody is going to get hurt.”

“My friends are long gone.” Flake said as he tried to figure a way out, looking from Connor to behind him and back to Connor. He raised the gun and pulled the trigger, but the gun only clicked, empty. Flake lunged at Connor, grabbing his wrist and causing Connor to throw the gun from his hands. Flake slammed Connor against the wall, only to be headbutted in the face by Connor.

Flake stumbled backwards, cutting his ankle on his own sword. The men kept unbreakable grips on eachother, Connor punching Flake, again and again, Flake retaliating by spitting his blood into his attacker’s face. Connor threw Flake down, kicking him in the side of the chest and then again in the head. Flake rolled over, beaten but he was determined to not give up.

Connor moved to Andrew’s lifeless body, using his foot to casually roll him over and pull the sword from his back. Flake stumbled to his feet and tackled Connor to the ground, the sword scraping against the wall in his hands, inches away from causing harm. Connor squirmed out of Flake’s grip, holding Flake’s own sword above him as he was about to perform the execution.

“I’ve never used one of these before.” Connor comments to himself sarcastically.

“You don’t have to use it.” Flake mutters.

“You’ve given me no choice.” Connor tells him, looking up the hallway where Robbie went. “Looks like nobody came to save you.”

A pause, Connor’s eyebrow raises as Flake looks up at him.

“I saved them.” Flake tells Connor, adjusting his position so he was on his knees.

Connor raised the sword, Flake continued to stare down Connor as he prepared to drive Flake’s own sword into Flake’s skull. It was only when a bang interrupted Connor, a gunshot loud and clear, a bullet pierced Connor’s collarbone. Flake insinctivly started to panic, crawling back as Connor tumbled to the floor, cutting down Flake’s arm shallowly with the sword as he collapsed besides Andrew, who was slowly beginning to stir.

Flake grabbed his sword, breathing heavily, shaking, as he looked down at the floor, his vision blurred and heart racing, he felt his blood trickle down his face and arm as Connor groaned on the floor. Flake just looked at him, taking a deep breath as he swayed, almost falling out of conciousness.

“Are you alright?” A voice, which Flake did not recognize, asks from above him, keeping their distance. Flake’s eyebrows furrowed, surprised the voice wasn’t his friends. He looks up, Bri looming over him, putting her gun down. “Sir?” She questions as Flake suddenly tumbled backwards, collapsing to the floor in a heap. She gasped, moving forwards towards him and listening for breathing, his shallow breathing barely audible to her.

Andrew stirred more, groaning as he had reanimated from his deathbed, his body raising, struggling to get up due to his missing arm. Bri pulls her gun out and shoots Andrew dead. She turns to Connor, putting the gun to his head. She hesitates, her finger ghosting over the trigger. She hears footsteps coming from behind her. She jumps up, leaving Connor as she sees Grace coming around the corner, followed by Abreham.

“What happened?!” Abreham exclaims, seeing Flake lying face down on the floor.

“We have to get him out of here.” Grace tells him, moving over to Flake body and crouching down. “Help me get him up.”

Abe nods, walking over to Bri and Grace. Grace pushes back Flake’s hair, looking at his bloodied and already swelling face, she shakes her head, tears threatening to overflow in her eyes as Abe wraps his arm around Flake’s, pulling him up. Grace attempted to help, her gri[ tight on him as they both make their way towards the door to leave. Bri takes Flake’s sword from the floor and holds it in her free arm.

She turns to leave, leaving Connor to reanimate, but she stops. She takes a deep breath and sighs to herself, a lump in her throat. She turns back around, holding the gun out. She blinked once, a tear tumbling down her cheek as she pulls the trigger.

Abreham and Grace made their way out of the building, Flake in their arms. Everyone was there, looking on as they made their way out. Melissa covered her eyes, gasping out at the sight of Flake.

“He’s unconcious. We need to do something.” Grace says in passing, almost falling over with the weight of Flake on top of her.

Bri was the last to make her way out of the building, holding the sword and the gun, she stares down at the ground. As she looks up, she spots Sally standing by Robbie, who’s sitting on the ground in complete silence, unmoving and seemingly in another world. Sally bites her lip, trying to figure out what to say to him as she notices Bri, the distraught expression on her face has her worried as she moves towards her.

“Are you alright?” Sally asks, rubbing at Bri’s arm comfortingly. Bri holds out the gun, putting it into Sally’s hand, unwilling to look her in the eyes. “Bri?”

“Connor’s dead.” Bri tells her, finally looking at her. Sally’s face screws up, first confusion, then anger, then sadness washes over her like a blanket.

“Was it--”

“It was me.” Bri tells her. Sally looks down, tears flowing out of her eyes as she silently began to cry. Bri pulls Sally in for a hug, allowing her to let out a much needed loud sob. “I’m sorry.” Bri tells her.

Grace and Abreham catch their breath, putting Flake down for a moment, Grace inspects his face, trying to wipe the blood with the bottom of her shirt.

“We need a doctor.” Carlos comments.

“We’re NOT going back in there.” Grace spits hostilly, rolling her shoulders. “Sorry.” She immediantly adds.

“We either have to leave or do something,” Abreham adds, “We don’t know what’s going to happen.”

Sally pulled away from Bri, composing herself for a few seconds before turning towards the group gathering around Flake. “I was a nurse, kind of.” She stutters, barely getting her words out.

“What do you mean kind of?!” Grace exclaims.

“Trainee.” Bri adds for Sally.

“Can you do something?” Melissa asks.

“You’ll have to clean everything out, or It’ll get infected. We can do that with most things we’ve got on us, I think.” Sally says, shakily. Grace and Abreham exchange glances before silently deciding it was a good idea, standing and grabbing at Flake again.

Sally nodded, numerous times to herself, turning to Robbie as he just continued to sit and stare at the concrete ground. She approaches him, Bri looming just behind her.

“I’m-- I’m so sorry.” Sally says, her lip twitching as another pair of tears spilled over her eyes. Robbie didn’t reply. Sally started crying, covering her face. Bri prused her lips, deciding to walk away, awkwardly standing on the outside of the group.

“C’mon, man. We’re moving.” Abreham says to Robbie as he passes with Grace and Flake. Robbie looks up for a second before running his hand over his face and along his hair. He reluctantly stood, wobbling slightly.

“Here.” Bri said, stopping Carlos as he walked by and holding out Flake’s sword, handing it to him. Carlos took it, looking at it awkwardly.

“Thanks,” Carlos said, smiling lightly. “So, who are you?”

“Bri.”

He began walking again, alongside Melissa. Bri looked back, looking at the door where they had exited just a few minutes before, knowing that Connor’s body was lying inside. The door was closed, she bit the inside of her lip as she turned and follow behind Robbie as they left the community.

After the group had found their cars, they took off, leaving the community behind. In the RV, Grace sat with Flake’s head on her lap, having just finished washing up his face. The whole group were exhausted, Grace especially nodding in and out of sleep. She blinked hard, looking down at Flake and brushing away a stray hair that stuck to his sticky, bloodied face.

“Wake up, Flake.” She whispered, running a thumb over his temple as she leaned down to kiss his forehead, rubbing his head as she leaned her head against the back of her chair and closed her eyes.

Flake’s eyes shot open, his body shaking awake, like he’d just been through a nightmare. His face sweaty, he rubbed his face as he looked around, everything coming into clear vision. He was in an apartment, his old apartment, his home before the apocalypse. In the distance, a woman stood at the window and she turned around, smiling at him.

“Good morning, babe,” She smiled, “Are you okay? You look like shit.” She giggled.

## 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
* Andrea Boehkle as Bri
* Jackson Rathbone as Abreham

### Supporting

* Q'orianka Kilcher as Tanya
* Ariana Greenblatt as Molly
* Noah Schnapp as Mark
* Billy Burke as Connor

### Also Starring

* Janel Parrish as Haley Reed
* Antonia Thomas as Vicky
* Troye Sivan as Sam
* Alexandra Breckenridge as Tracey

### Guest

* Alyssa Diaz as Officer Scarlette
* Kaia Jordan Gerber as Beth
* Kendric Green as Dean
* Eric Mendenhall as Unnamed Man #1 (Oli)
* Kyle Clements as Unnamed Man #2 (Andrew)
* Miley Cyrus as Flake’s Girlfriend
* Unknown as Scrap
* Unknown as Pig

## Deaths

* Jessica
* Oli
* Andrew
* Connor

## Poll

### Final Words

Hello y’all….. Robae Kirkmen here. I’m really sad this half of arc 2 is over. Not to be over dramatic or too sentimental to my one reader but damn i rly enjoyed writing connor. He sure did grow on me,,, idk if it’s because he was portrayed by billy burke or what but he’s amazing!! I hope I wrote a good convincing “villain” and here’s to the next one! mwuhahaha!

### Behind The Scenes

Aiight listen up fats, fans and gays. In my original NOTES that i wrote because ima very professional author, jessica was gonna die becuz i wanted to lowkey ripoff Zoo (rest in peace u beautiful show) and do somethign where The Specifics™ sacrifice people to make sure they’re protected but LISTEN i didn’t do that….. It didn’t make sense sis…. So this happened all this happened. Im so sorry. Im just so sorry.