Wake of the Dead | One

Chapter twenty-six

Barely holding back his relief Jasper said tensely, "No, we're not. Doing that while we're out-numbered, out-gunned and exhausted would be a death sentence." Sometimes, admitting your weaknesses could be a strength. If he needed to, Jasper could take Renier by surprise and use the boy as leverage to get out of the town unharmed. He was usually against taking hostages, but this was a different world now. Every rule in the book had been thrown out the window, with only people's morality to guide them. Unfortunately, not everybody had sound morals.

Renier nodded once, "Good."

The town around them was dismal, to say the least. The oncoming rain clouds had darkened the sky, with dark shadows sprawling across the abandoned sidewalks. Cars piled up on the roads, and Jasper found himself helping Aubrey over some of them. Windows from broken-in stores were shattered, leaving sprays of glass across the cracked pavement. Eventually they were lead down a side alleyway, after Jeremiah had pushed open the chain-link fence cutting it off. The vultures padded overhead on the narrow rooftops. Puddles that had gathered the previous night splashed beneath Jasper's heavy combat boots and against his pants. 

Conversation had sputtered into a soft murmur. With this atmosphere, it felt almost improper to talk out loud. A young man with neat, dark-brown hair and pale brown eyes slowly walked up beside Jasper, "The name's Jackson," He muttered softly. He was a bit shorter than Jasper, but not by much. "Have you been to the city recently?" 

Jasper ran a stressed hand through the tuft of hair on his head. Oh boy, had he ever. "Yea, why?" He muttered quietly in response.

Jackson crossed his arms across his chest, knitting his brows together into a slight scowl, "How many were there? Those...freaks, I mean. Were there any survivors?" 

The other man's eyes were sharp, focused. Intent on hearing every single word that left Jasper's lips. "There was one survivor that I found. A few people escaped the city, but I'm not sure exactly how many. That's where we're from." He added, nodding towards his patrol. Darren, Keagan and Jeremiah seemed to be having a rather interesting conversation. Tension between everybody was dying down, to Jasper's relief. 

Jackson's eyes softened, but not in a pleasant way. Almost a defeated, exhausted way. "I've got family that was in the city when everything went to shit." He said softly. Shaking his head, Jackson's nose wrinkled irritably, scrunching up a bit. Something about the way he did it was vaguely familiar to Jasper, but he couldn't quite place it. "I don't know where he is now," Jackson chuckled wryly, "But the prickly bastard is too stubborn to let a few freaks take him out." 

Snorting with amusement, Jasper set his hands in his pockets, narrowly avoiding the body of a dead biter left on the ground right beside the end of the alleyway. "Yea, I know somebody a bit like that." Jasper sighed, shaking his head with exasperation. Aubrey suddenly leaned harder against him, and Jasper finally just swept her up into his arms. Aubrey pressed her face into Jasper's neck, and his stomach dropped when he felt just how cold she was. "Hey," Jasper said, finally beginning to feel the chill on him. He noticed Keagan was starting to struggle as well. "How much longer until we get there?"    

Jackson had noticed Aubrey freezing as well, "Not longer than forty minutes. We could run her there if we had to." Jasper nodded, but decided against running. If there were any sort of biters around, running in a large group would only draw attention to themselves. Even with a large group, there was no telling if Renier would have his people help in the fight or leave Jasper, Darren, Keagan and Aubrey to fend for themselves. He wouldn't blame them. 

Pushing out of the alleyway--which had been longer than Jasper anticipated--they were brought across the road and towards a dilapidated house. At first Jasper wondered if they were going into the house, but was surprised when Ren walked through the front door and to the back yard. The young man jumped the wooden fence, and Jasper had to be extra careful not to drop Aubrey. Renier had lead them to a small park, past the swing sets and slides, all the way across to a large set of woods at the very edge of the small town. 

Jackson had severely mis-timed their journey, because it had taken them about an hour to get to the camp. The woods opened up into a large clearing, which looked like it was originally made for camping. There were makeshift grills and a large fire pit, with logs on either side to sit down and eat. There were about three other members from Renier's group there, and Jasper already knew that there were probably more elsewhere. All in all, there was no doubt that Renier's people outnumbered the entirety of Jasper's whole group. 

"Come on, let's lay her by the fire." Renier said. Jasper followed him over, sitting down in front of the fire as instructed. Aubrey pressed against Jasper, nuzzling as close as possible. Her shivers gradually died down into occasionally shaking, but her body was beginning to warm up at least. Darren and Keagan broke off their conversation with Jeremiah, and sat beside Jasper and Aubrey as well. 

Renier sat across from Jasper, his cold green eyes staring at them for an uncomfortable amount of silence. Finally, the boy spoke. "So, you said you were looking for supplies?" As he said this, the two vultures--Nyx and Scratch--landed next to him. The smaller one that Jasper could only guess was Nyx gently tugged at Renier's jacket sleeve. Renier glanced down at her and then nodded to Jackson before the other man could leave, "Find them something to eat. Jasper's group and the vultures." Jackson nodded, and headed off farther into the camp. 

Nodding, Jasper couldn't help but pull Aubrey even closer to him to comfort her. She was gradually growing more and more tense when she saw just how many people Renier had around him. The rival group was casting curious--sometimes malicious--glances towards them. "Yes, we came looking for supplies." Jasper said warily. "Especially winter clothing. Aubrey here...well, none of us are really prepared. It was a lot warmer outside when all of this started."

The boy stared at Jasper for a long time still, mulling over the tense situation. A wry smile spread slowly across his lips. "Then we can help each other." He said. When the boy idly scratched an itch on his neck with one of the razor-sharp claws, Jasper felt sick. This boy had no concern with the fact that if he pressed close enough against his own neck that he could bleed out in mere seconds. "There's a shopping center surrounded by some of those freaks. We need real man power, not just ammo. If you help us take some out, then you'll be free to raid as much as you want, long as you leave some for us."

Exchanging a glance with Darren, Jasper nodded once. At this point, there wasn't any use hiding that they had an even bigger group to get back to. "We're just a scouting patrol. We have a bigger group, seven others if I'm not miscounting. If we bring them to help and promise we'll get our share in the reward, then I'm sure we won't have a problem." He paused for a few moments, "We would leave as soon as possible. You wouldn't have to hear from us again." 

The boy mulled over their plan for a little while, then nodded slowly. "Yea, that could work. Bring them here--peacefully. You can keep your weapons, but the moment anybody uses them aggressively, you're all gone." Jasper had to admit, that was only fair. If they wanted to keep the peace, then they'd have to act civilly amongst one another. 

"Violence won't be an issue--shouldn't be. If one of our own are," Darren said, "Then they'll be punished accordingly." 

Renier smiled, "Then it's settled. Warm your friend up here, then we'll meet at the auto shop in three days time." 

Jasper nodded once, with more confidence than before. Now with both groups to benefit from either side, there was sure to be more rewards than bloodshed. At least, he hoped.