Chapter Jebedaiah
Jeb would have lot to celebrate , they had defended the town with a minimum of casualty ,Pezzie was okay , he was okay .If only they had gotten the smarter zombie , it had surprised Jebedaiah to hear Pezzie, tell him he had left ,there was a good reason for it to have left , he wanted to figure it out . First thing first ,they had to repare that gate , without being sure if the zombie would come back right away with more for a second wave , or they would go back to the infected town .It took all of the afternoon , it was too late to hunt them down.He didn't sleep at all the situation was uncertain , Jeb didn't like uncertainty before the world turn to shit ,he didn't like it anymore after shit hit the fan. They were four people in the car , Flinn , Thomaz , himself and of course Pezzie . Finding the town in itself was easy enough thanks to Pezzie photographic memory . The hard part was explaining to them , what he had seen , his theory .It was more than a theory , the Justin look alike had save him but it was a double edge situation. Some zombie would stop other from attacking almost in a pacific way, he didn't know why or how ,but they did , however if you messed with the wrong zombie and they would all attack .You had to know exactly which one to attack and the one to leave alone , by luck he had seen the target , but to find it in a town full of infected it was risky , four of them wouldn't scare the pacifist zombies ,but it left them vulnerable . On the road was the time to explain , time was short , communication was a must.
-Thomaz , Flinn listen up by know I know ,you have seen some different type of zombie , theyre appearance are key , its not an exact science but from what me an Pezzie saw on the road it pretty simple. The more ugly , the more decompose they are the worst the infection, for whatever reason some of them looked human , we need to look for them and see how they act . They will sign the other on what to do , said Jeb
He looked at the other ,Pezzie understood he knew ,but the other were another question.
-With all due to respect, Mr .J ,you can seriously tell us that you believe that , they are monster , they just want to kill us and eat us .We have guns so when we will reach this town , lets kill as much as possible , worst case they attack again and we do the same as in the church yesterday ,said Thomaz
He knew he was a hard task to convince them it would have taken days , proof and even then it wouldn't be a certain thing . He stopped the car and turned to Flinn
-We have talk about this , you saw what I saw, you know i am not wrong .Theyre are some who are smarter , there was one during the attack of yesterday , If Omallys was there he would confirm this . How do you even explain yesterday attack , those gate held since the beginning but all of a sudden gave in , it is a bit odd even you have to admit , tried Jeb
Yes we theorized this , but there no proof beside if your wrong , it could be the end of us , if we had proof then maybe but as of right now , said Flinn firmly
-Okay , okay i am not asking you to believe my theory ,but Thomaz when you will see Justin, you will recognize him , you will recognize him, he repeated
-Are you sure your okay ,ask Pezzie worried
As he thought about it was he truly trying to convince them or maybe he was hopping to convince himself . The day before ,he had not only save the town , but help rebuild the gate, it didn't give him a chance or an ounce of trust , but he wouldn't give up , he had to think , for the town but also for Justin. He wasn't a fool , the reason why he cared so much was probably all about his infected son, was he really accepting the fact , that his child was dead but alive at the same time, he had doubt that what he saw was real , he thought he might have imagine all of it has a way to cope with the reality of the apocalypse , but the women in that trap . He had been mad at god for a long time , he had non willingly use Pezzie to replace his dead kid , he even had thought that the only reason he had refuse to live in the first town was to be as far away .He knew all of this , he had known all of this all along, the chance to see his son gave him the desire to repent ,because in his eagerness to see Justin once again he realized that , even as a kid he wasn't the father, he had deserve , why was he trying to atone now of all time .Another thought occur to him , if they were some smarter , if there was really a hierarchy , was there a leader. They finally arrived to the town , he looked at everyone they all nodded, good at least they are ready , they advance silently hoping to get around the town without being noticed .Thankfully, once again Pezzie came very handy , they follow the same path as the first time but no zombie to be seen , good maybe the infected man came with all of the troop ,he got worried for his son , but no Pezzie would have told him , beside if the smart one has left the battlefield , Justin would have probably done the same . They arrive at the center of the town , the scene they saw was completely inexplicable . There was two group of zombie, it was as if they were fighting , but the thing that jump to Jeb was the two zombie seemingly leading the group, it was hard to say but one of them seemed similar to the one who had attack the town , Jeb fell to his knees ,on the other side now that he was paying attention he recognize right away the second zombie it was Justin. It was really him , sure his skin had decolored and his eyes were red but still, Jeb smiled it was the proof he needed , he pointed Justin to Thomaz , time to convince everyone he thought. Once again the next minute played in slow motion, Pezzie misunderstood the signal and shot at the zombie in charge of yesterday attack , the strangest thing happened a zombie pushed the man and took the bullet in his stead , there was more of these intelligent zombie than he originally thought .The zombies leading both growled ,Justin group went to their knees as if to surrender , they could be pacifist or not it didn't matter they weren't attacking .The second group however , turn to them and ran to attack .
-You were right ,said Finn
-Now its not the time , Said Jeb
They raised their arm it was a massacre , but with four assault riffle they were no match , Pezzie swore she shot at the zombie in charge ,but they had to make sure . They approach to identify the enemy, they found it fairly quickly Pezzie had done great .
-Oh my god ,you were right mister J its him , Justin its me , its Thomaz , man I cant believe we found you , im sorry , I couldn't save you .
The zombie was looking at Thomaz it gave a couple of growl , but seemed confuse .The scene was beautiful the remaining zombie weren't attacking they were just kneeling ont on the ground and even though it seem that Justin couldn't understand ,he was still alive in a certain way .
-The mission is a success time to go back to the town and build a better tomorrow , said Jeb
Pezzie and Thomaz nodded , but Finn said
-I cant do that , Jebedaiah , look at him ,he know we are here sure it resist now but what if he gets hungry , will he be as passive . I cant let him live
He pointed a gun at his son and shot . Without thinking with his every instinct, Jeb got in front of the zombie that his son has become . The shot hit him in the stomach, he felt himself go down . With his blurry vision , he heard Pezzie screamed before she shot Finn. She went down to him crying , with his dying breath he told her .
-Hey pumpkin , you did fantastic out there I couldn't be more proud .
-Don't die , Jeb , please don't die , I love you and need you , please im begging you don't die .
She was crying , as he looked at her , he remembered Sarah crying , Pezzie crying and her too, she was his daughter too , with the little bit of strength he had left . He wiped her tear with his thumb
-You are ready , don't worry you are stronger than I ever was , you need to convince the town not to go to war with them , you need to be a leader, they need it .He said
She nodded crying , I love you pumpkin , he told her. She knelt and put her head on his chest , he turned looked at Justin and said I love you son, the zombie looked at him and got closer resting his forehead against his own
-You understand us , said Jebedaiah before closing his eyes
Those were the last word he ever said .
