Dead Weight/Issue 13

**Issue 13** is the thirteenth issue of Dead Weight. It is entitled On Board.

## Story

Sabrina stopped outside the supermarket door, the automatic door creaking as it opened. Sabrina’s eyebrows raised as she watched the door slowly open before it made a loud clunk against the side of the building. Grace caught up, puffing as she came to a halt.

“What was that about?!” She asks, scratching the back of her neck as she looked into the rather dark supermarket.

Sabrina shrugs, pointing inside, “D’ya think there’s something cool inside?”

“Only one way to find out.” Grace tells her, nudging her towards the door. Sabrina stumbled forwards slightly, rolling her eyes.

“Ladies first!” She grins, grabbing Grace’s wrist and tugging her towards the doors as the girls brought out their knives. Sabrina let go of Grace as one of the dead stumbled out the door, she instantly stabbed the knife through it’s eyeball, blood splattering onto her hand and knife.

Grace lifted her foot out, kicking against a stack of magazines and causing them to fall to the floor with a loud thud. Sabrina jumps, throwing the undead to the ground and turning towards her sister, thinking she’s in danger when she notices several of the undead come stumbling out from the darkness.

Grace raised her knife, stabbing it hastily into it’s skull before kicking it’s now-dead body aside. One of the undead stumble upto her, tripping over it’s own feet and knocking Grace over, causing her to tumble backwards into a stand of vegetables.

Sabrina slices the throat of one of the undead before stabbing it through the mouth and up into the brain, blood leaking down her arm as she tugs the knife out.

Grace shoves her thumbs into the eye sockets of the undead as it tries to force it’s way onto her face. She grunts loudly, looking over her shoulder as Sabrina stabs another dead in the head. Grace spots her dropped knife on the floor.

“Sabby!” She calls out, looking at Sabrina and then the knife again. Sabrina jumps into action, grabbing the knife and with both knife digs them into the dead’s head, blood exploding out of the wounds and blood trickling down Grace’s thumbs as Sabrina pulls the knifes out of the head again. “Nice.” Grace nods, an impressed look on her face as she pulls her thumbs out of the now crushed eyes and letting the dead fall off of her body.

“Are you alright?” Sabrina asks, handing the knife to Grace as she wipes her thumbs on her pants, barely getting the blood off as it begins to stain her nails. Grace nods, holding the knife as she assesses the area in front of her.

“Yeah, c’mon. Let’s be quick.” Grace tells her before entering the second set of doors, which are jammed open. Sabrina follows behind, keeping her eyes peeled.

Bri looks out of her bedroom window, the sun beginning to set once again on the day. Bri bit her lip anxiously, looking down at her feet, the bag she had began packing at her side. Why was she so desperate to leave… but so anxious about it? Thoughts ran through her head in the quiet room, the only sound was that of the clock as it ticked through the hour.

Bri hummed a soft tune as she opened the window, a small gust of air filling the room. She looked across the landscape, a small farm in front of a forest which stretched out further than the eye can see.

Bri uses her finger to draw a smudged circle on the window around one section of the forest. She dotted the center and squinted, looking out. She was ready to leave as soon as the sun went down.

Grace and Sabrina walked into the shop, the only thing lightning up the way were emergency lights, which were already pretty dim. They walk until they reach the first aisle, being met with a stench of rotting fruits and broken freezers filled with meats.

“This was a fuckin’ bad idea.” Sabrina says, her voice slightly squeaky as she pinches her nose.

“There’ll be canned good somewhere around here. We just gotta look quickly and then get outta here.”

The duo walk side by side through the dark and empty supermarket, stepping over knocked over shelves and approaching the back of the store where several cans lay, some of them knocked onto the floor, some of them broken, but some of them still intact.

“Jackpot!” Grace smirks.

Sabrina just rolled her eyes. "Yeah, barely."

Bri walked into the bedroom, the room dark and the only light coming from the glow of the moon outside. She immediately sprang into action, taking a quick glance of the bed and realising it’s empty, untouched. She sighed silently to herself, knowing Sally would be with Connor. She made her way to her side of the bed, getting on her hands and knees and lifting the covers and leaning down to look under the bed.

She reached her hand under, feeling around until she wrapped her hand around the bag’s strap, pulling out with ease and lifted t to look at it, realising it’s empty. Her face crumples up in confusion as she pulls back the open section when she suddenly jumps as the lights flick on.

“You’re really leaving, huh.” Sally’s voice asks from the bathroom door, Bri’s head shooting up from behind the bed, dropping the bag.

“What are you doing?” Bri asks as she notices Sally holding some of her important luggage, she angles her hands down, allowing Bri’s belongings to drop to the floor. “Sall--”

“What were you thinking?” Sally hisses, approaching Bri as she stands up.

“Leaving Is the best thing for me.”

“why?!”

“I have never been comfortable in groups. In this group. I have to go.”

Sally shakes her head, roughly as she approaches bri and grabs her upper arm. “No. You can’t. I-- I refuse.” She say, trying to sound as demanding as possible while being quiet.

“I don’t fit in here.” Bri tells her.

“Yes you do!? You’re a nurse, now, Bri!”

“No. You’re a nurse. I’m just a--”

“Was that supposed to offend me?”

“You know how I feel about everything that’s been happening here. I just want to go.” Bri says, shrugging her hand off of her arm as she pushed past her.

“You can’t go. You’ll get people killed.” Sally says after a second of silence. Bri stops, hand on the door handle as she turn around.

“Huh?”

“I’ll tell Connor. He’ll send people out to look for you. Bring you back.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“You saved me once. Now, I’m saving you.” Sally says, approaching Bri and taking her hand in her own and dragging her away from the door. Bri’s eyebrows furrow as Sally pulls her in for a hug. “I’m sorry, It’s just something I have to do now.”

Bri stands there awkwardly as Sally pulls away from the hug. “Okay?” Sally asks, staring at Bri with puppy dog eyes. Bri knew she didn’t want to leave, but everything told her that Connor and the safe zone was unsafe. She could always trust her gut, but her heart said something different.

“Okay.”

Melissa walked down the path, dust flying over her white sneakers and into her face. She stopped, looking down at a dimly lit cabin in the distance.

She sighs, shoving her hands into her pockets and making her way towards the door. She knocks lightly, humming a tune outside as she heard creaking and slow footsteps inside.

Soon, Flake opened the door, his eyes widening as he sees melissa.

“Hey.” He says, his voice rather husky. Melissa smiles lightly, looking down at her feet before looking back up to Flake.

“Hey, listen, uhm, I don’t want to have you on your feet. Can I come in?” Melissa asks.

“Oh, yeah sure.” Flake steps aside, leaning against the door slightly to keep himself balanced as Melissa stepped inside. He pushed the door over, carefully pushing himself into the seat in the room. Melissa sat against the table.

“Haven’t seen you in a while.”

“I’m… sorry, you know, for yelling at you. It’s been a stressful time.” Melissa tells him.

“It’s okay.” Flake nods, leaning back against the seat as Melissa approached the table beside him, reaching her hand out and pushing her finger into the cover of a book, flicking it upwards and seeing a few pieces of paper inside.

“What’s this?” She asks, tilting her head as she tries to make out Flake’s handwriting. “Do you write?”

“Only a little.” He tells her, reaching over to take the book in his hand, Melissa removing her finger as he sits the book on his lap, opening the cover. “It’s nothing really.”

“It’s great.” Melissa tells him, putting her hands behind her back awkwardly. “Can I read some?”

Flake squints his eyes, looking up at Melissa and then down to the book with the poems inside.

“They’re not quite finished yet.” Flake tells her, closing the book. Melissa nods, feeling rather awkward.

“Yeah, understandable! I should probably, uh, go.” Melissa tells him.

“Mhm. Thanks for apologizing. You didn’t have to.”

“No-- I wanted to, thanks.” Melissa nods, moving to the door. She quickly left the cabin, leaving Flake tapping his nails against the book cover, thinking to himself.

Grace stuffed the last of the cans into the bag, squitning her eyes in the dark as she feels for the bag’s zipper before pulling the bag closed. She picks up the bag, Sabrina just inches in front of her as she holds the knife.

“That’s not alot.” Sabrina says.

“It’ll do, for now. C’mon, let’s go.” Grace says, “We have to get back before nightfall.”

“I don’t think we’ll make it back.”

“It’s fine. We can drive through the night.”

Grace and Sabrina exit the store, Grace scans the street and spots one of the undead eating a rabbit on the road. She gestures for Sabrina to stay put as she pulls out her knife, approaching the rather small dead.

Sabrina watches as her sister deals with the dead when suddenly she hears something. Her head turning as she looks up, hearing the low wirring of an engine or something.

“Grace--” Sabrina says, although too quietly for Grace to hear her as she throws the knife into the dead’s head without it even hearing her, killing it in an instant. “Grace, do you.” Sabrina steps out onto the road, looking up as she suddenly spots a black helicopter flying overhead, it’s rough flying causing it to almost come crashing down as it struggles to stay in the air, slight smoke coming from the blades.

Grace and Sabrina watch the helicopter as it flies over their heads, and disappears into the sky again, flying away from them as Grace suddenly turns her head towards Sabrina in realisation.

“We have to get back to the car.” Grace says, turning on her heels and beginnign to walk down the street. Sabrina runs, catching up behind her sister.

“Shouldn’t we--”

“Now, Sabby. Anything could have heard that noise.” Grace tells her. Sabrina bites the inside of her lip as she follows behind her sister, sticking close behind as the loud helicopter noise slowly disappears from hearing distance.

*Eighty Two days stuck in an unstable building can take a toll on those who have no patience. Those who cannot wait any longer for help and do wahtever they can for help.*

*A young man stood across a reception desk from the undead as it growled ferociously at him, he raised the long metal rod he held in his hand, ready to strike the dead when a bullet flew through the dead’s head, knocking it to the floor with a thump. The man turns, looking for the man who possibly just saved his skin.*

*“You alright? That Eater just came outta nowhere.” The other man says, lowering his gun as a blonde woman came out from behind him, holding a mobile phone in her hand which was caked in blood.*

*“Thanks, you saved my life.”*

*“Yeah, hardly. Don’t sweat it.” The man tells him, approaching the desk and making sure he didn’t miss the head. “I’m Wesley, by the way.”*

*The other man came out from behind the reception desk. “Abreham.” He introduces himself, his accent a thick Russian one.*

*“Nice to meet you, this is my wife Janice. We have to get out of here, there’s a riot going down in main lobby and it’s going to come up here in a few minutes so if we don’t move fast we could be in serious bother.” Wesley explains as he continues walking, Abreham reluctently following behind.*

*“Okay, so the military didn’t show?!” Abreham asks.*

*“Hah! No. They didn’t. Someone stole a plane and crashed it into the side of the damn airport, letting the dead in. There’s one more helicopter in the back, we just have to get to it before the dead or some other dumb bandits do.” Wesley explains.*

*A scream cuts off Abreham as he is about to speak as a man suddenly crashed down the stairs in front of them, followed by two other bodies as Abreham looks down at the man, his arm torn into like meat. The two other bodies tumble into the man, one’s teeth landing directly at his face and it began ripping into his ear. Abreham stepped backwards, clutching the rod in his hand as Wesley pointed his gun at the dead, firing two shots and killing them before looking down at the man.*

*“Help-- Me--” The man mumbles, blood pouring from his face and arm. Wesley shook his head, pulling the gun out and without any hesitation, fired the gun into the man’s skull.*

*“You alright?” Janice asks after a few seconds. Wesley nods his head, lovingly running her hand briefly through Janice’s hair before they take off again. Abreham follows them, striding right beside Janice as they approach a fire exit.*

*“When the plane’s wing came crashing into the building, people were severely injured. We were there, thankfully we escaped.” Janice tells Abreham.*

*“Yeah. Barely, where were you?” Wesley asks.*

*“I heard the rumble just after coming on the staff room. I luckily wasn’t near.”*

*“Yeah. You’re lucky, there was fire and let’s just say the blood was… Alot.”*

*The trio pushed open the fire exit door, making their way into the sunlight and the tarmac of the airport. There were no planes in sight except, in a distance hanger, sat a black helicopter.*

*“Quick.” Wesley pointed towards the helicopter and pulled his gun out again, leading the three into the open as several of the undead came marching towards them. Abreham jumped back as one of the dead without any legs tried to grab at his ankles, he raised his foot and stimped on the dead’s head, however when it didn’t die he slammed the rod on it’s skull, crushing it’s skull and it’s brain.*

*Wesley fired a shot at a small group of dead coming their way, and another and another. He continued firing until he heard a disasterous click coming from his gun. He turned to Janice.*

*“Janice, I need those bullets!” He demanded, swapping his gun over so he was holding the barrel as he used the other end to slam into one of the biter’s heads as it came towards him.*

*Janice fished inside her pocket, holding five bullets in her hands as she and Abreham approached the small group of dead. Wesley pushed off one of them when he fell against soem boxes. Abreham slamming his metal rod into the side of one of their head’s and knocking it to the ground, he continued to slam the rod into it’s head until it was a messy pulp.*

*Wesley pushed off another of the undead, moving away from the boxes before tumbling to the ground, sliding his gun to Janice as she stopped it with her foot, picking it up and opening the bullet chamber and sliding the bullets inside.*

*“JANICE!” Wesley roared as two of the dead stumbled towards him, both of them at once tumbling downwards and snapping their jaws, dangerously close to his face. Janice closed the bullet chamber and fired two shots, hitting the dead in the neck and head as they fell dead.*

*Wesley groaned as he pushed the dead off of him, wiping himself down but he was sticky with blood.*

*“You alright, man??” Abreham asks, Wesley nods breathlessly. Janice passes him his gun back and he gladly takes it, slipping it into his belt.*

*“We gotta move, come on!” Wesley says after a few seconds of heavy breathing. The three continue towards the hanger before they manage to get into the hanger. Wesley runs towards the helictoper’s front as Abreham and Janice slow down, waiting for Wesley to give the all clear when suddenly a dead jumps out at Abreham and Janice, grabbing Janice’s arm and snapping it’s jaw at her. Abreham pulls out his rod and slams it into the dead’s head. It groans louder as it pulls Janice’s arm upto it’s mouth, sinking it’s teeth into her upper arm as Wesley’s gun fires, shooting through the side of the dead’s head and killing it.*

*The dead falls to the ground as Janice looks at her arm, slight blood dripping from her wound, which was a large bite mark around her lower arm. Her breathing heavy, she shakes her head.*

*“I’ll be fine.” She says, Wesley nods from inside the helicopters pilot seat as he buckles himself in.*

*“Come on!” He yells, looking slightly unsure now as the other two climb inside, the dead limping closer.*

*“Can you fly this?!” Abreham asks, looking along the controls and upto Wesley’s face. Wesley just chuckles, starting the engine.*

*“D’ya think I can fly this damn thing?!”*

*“Wait-- You can’t?!” Abreham asks before leaning back in his seat, saying a small prayer as the blades start whirring. Wesley makes his way carefully out of the hanger before the helicopter lifts into the sky…*

## 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**
* **Lilli Birdsell as Janice**
* **Matt LeBlanc as Wesley**
* Unknown Dog as Scrap