Tales of The Wallking Dead

Chapter 14

Things for The Wall started to look up in the days that followed and after 6 days they were able to make it good with most of the people in the west side of the QZ when on the 14th day papers were being put up all over the QZ which Jacob brought into the tent where everyone minus Connor was. "'The time has finally come! We're expanding into the city and we've cleared out our first building which is now being made habitable by the efforts of our forces and soon enough we'll start to accommodate a lucky few people chose by chance. We can't wait for further expansion and rebuilding of society.' Well I can't tell if I'm meant to be excited about this it distraught by it." Jacob said reading over the flyer a couple of times before he handed around the group and they all read over the flyer and it was true. Even from they were sitting they could see the soldiers moving along the streets watching for walkers and looking as their comrades cleared the buildings. "Excited I suppose?" Hannah said very unsure herself if this is good news or not given how corrupt some people in the QZ were. "Well I think it's a good thing we'll all have our own homes soon." Sophie said actually seeming quite happy about the whole thing. "Would be an easier pill to swallow if Connor wasn't on those streets right now." Lily said looking down at the floor while Freyja put a comforting arm around her. "I can't believe he'd agree to it." Jacob said grimly. "I know he did it to keep you safe Lily but that's something I'd have to seriously consider. I know I don't like you all that much but I suppose I wouldn't want you to die." Jacob says admitting Connor did the right thing. "But I swear if he actually gets brainwashed by these people we're leaving him behind." Jacob says in a very 'mark my words' voice.

Excitement around the new housing seemed to build through out the day and when the soldiers arrived back from the streets they were swarmed by people asking when the houses would be ready for people to start living in. "I know you're all excited to return to a sense of normalcy but we assure you in a few days most of you will be out if these tents and into the houses." One soldier said to the crowd which pleased them and they all scattered back to their tents to read or whatever. Once Connor arrived back he was quickly pulled aside by Steven along with a few other soldiers Connor didn't quite recognise. "Listen troops." Steven said in his serious voice which he saved for emergencies only and it rarely ever needed using. "There's a serious threat on the way. One I'm sure some of you forgot about due to how sparse they've been recently but there's a horde. A large one a that. Must be 300 or so strong but we're still crunching the numbers." Steven said as all faces in the room went pale and eyes went wide. "This explains the sparseness of them. They're all coming at once and in numbers." Steven continued when some other official looking guy stepped in and whispers something which made Steven's blood run cold.

"H-how many?" He said quietly as the official guy whispered to him again. "O-oh god." Steven then recomposed himself and stared at the soldiers in the room. "O-okay troops. T-there is a lot more than anticipated. We're talking 450 walkers here maybe more maybe less but that's our rough average." Steven explained as he calculated his next move in his head. "Troops. Prepare for a fight. A war level fight. It's gonna be all hands on deck here." Steven explained. "The horde's headed our way as well there's no way we're gonna be able to avoid it. It'll hit us whether we like it or not." Steven added as he cursed something under his breath and left the room leaving the soldiers to talk amongst themselves. Connor didn't fancy talking so he left the room and sprinted back to the tent shouting to the others. "Guys!! We have a problem!" Connor said sitting down on a camp bed and getting everyone's full attention. "A problem about 450 strong and headed right for us." Connor explained as everyone's face fell and scared looks crossed their faces. "Steven's told us all to prepare for war but I'm doubting our little army of like what? 40 or 45 can take out a horde of walkers that big." Connor said panic slowly rising in his voice. He then turns to Jacob and sighs. "If I promise to not kill another living again will you work with me here?" Connor asked as Jacob thought about it but sighed and nodded his head solemnly. "Fine I'll work with you but you better keep your word on this." Jacob said as he picked up the rifle from under his bed and loaded the clip into it. 

The group discussed how they were gonna go about handling a horde 450 walkers large nobody really saw a way out of the situation without dying in the process. "We could slip out while the battle rages." Sophie suggest with a shrug as everyone gave her a puzzled look. "Maybe but like what if they do end up winning? We'd be executed for escaping for sure." Hannah states as Connor sighed at the comment. "Yeah that's true. You're still on the military's radar even 6 days later so yes, they would not hesitate to kill you." Connor admitted as everyone groaned and kept discussing what else they could do when Clementine, who'd been quiet for a while, pointed towards something. "Does anybody know how to fly?" Clementine asked as they watched the military fly back into the QZ on a helicopter. Lily stares in awe at the helicopter. "We won't get another chance at an airborne escape from anywhere ever again." Lily gasped not taking her eyes off it. Jacob scoffed and turned to her. "Yeah right. Like you could fly a helicopter." He said rolling his eyes. "Actually." Freyja said looking at Lily with a proud look on her face. "She knows the controls of a helicopter. Learned them when she used to do cadets as some training thing." She stated proudly putting a hand on Lily's shoulder which made her look mildly uncomfortable. "You can fly t-that?" Hannah asks amazed. "Well." Lily said modestly going red in the face. "I've never tried to actually fly one but I know what controls are where." Lily said putting her hand on her neck.

"You can't be serious! We're gonna steal a helicopter from the military!" Sophie exclaimed as she paced around the tent trying to think of all the reasons this was a horrible idea. "First off. Lily can't actually fly so chances are we'd just crash. Secondly, good luck even getting within 3 metres of that thing and finally, as much as I may hate this plan I hate living here even more so let's do it." Sophie said as she stopped pacing and sat down on a bed. "Okay so." Jacob said addressing everyone with his new plan. "We find a way to steal the helicopter. Get everyone on. Pray Lily can actually get us within a 100 yards away from the horde and promptly crash because Lily can't actually fly." Jacob said making sure to use his planning hand gestures where he points at everyone while asking indirect questions. "Yep, pretty much I guess." Clementine said with a shrug as she took the rifle from Jacob. "I'll be taking that." She said as Jacob quickly snatched it back. "Uh, no you won't. I don't trust you to not kill a living person. This gun is reserved for walkers only, same goes for the gunpowder factory Connor has strapped to his body." Jacob says not as a statement but more as an order. "You've developed a commanding leader voice." Connor said patting Jacob on the back. "Could this mean you actually become a true leader?" Connor asks he slaps Jacob in the shoulder and looks off towards the helicopter. 

Once nighttime fell upon the QZ and soldiers were at stress trying to keep an eye on the horde and eliminating any stragglers that come too close to the walls. Connor was told to use his slightly higher ranking to try and secure the helicopter for the group which made him nervous as that helicopter was only meant to be for scouting missions. Connor decided to take a different approach and ran up to soldiers guarding the helicopter. "Guys! Guys! Excess walkers approaching the main gates! They want all hands on deck! Me and a few others will guard the helicopter!" Connor yelled to them and since they were so on edge they immediately took Connor's word for it and abandoned their posts leaving the helicopter unguarded for the rest of the group to steal it. Once Connor completed his distraction mission he waved Jacob over and he snuck everyone into the loading room the lead out to the helicopter.

"Damn. I didn't know they had so much stuff in here." Jacob said whistling. "Quite impressive." He added as his eyes fell on boxes of ammo. "As much as I hate this idea. Get geared up. Whatever weapons you find in here take them and he'll yourselves to ammo. These greedy twats seem to have enough." As soon as Jacob gave the order everyone started grabbing small handguns but left the rifles hanging on their racks and Jacob called Connor in. "Yeah what is it?" Connor asked as Jacob watched people try and figure out how to use a gun. "These people are useless with those things." Jacob muttered as he looked at Connor. "Grab a bag and when we land teach these people how to use a firearm as most of them are clueless." Jacob asked as Connor grabbed a bag and told people to load their guns into it and then people took the rifles and other weaponry on the shelves and placed them into the bag. "Lily is the next best thing to a gun trained person." Connor told Jacob as he listened to Connor. "She taught me how to operate a rifle without killing myself." Connor explained. "When she did cadets she'd watch the army do their things with their guns such as unload them and so on and so forth." Connor continued as Jacob looked at Lily. "Life's full of surprises." Jacob said as he zipped up the gun bag. "Good to know you and your girlfriend could bond over gun safety then." Jacob sniggered as Connor just stared blankly at him. "You forget that Freyja's still here yes?" Connor asks as Jacob just shrugs. "Makes it all the more interesting." He commented and walked out to where the helicopter was sitting.