Travis stared at the body, his arm slowly falling to his side as he swallowed the lump forming in his throat. The snow surrounding it was stained a deep crimson, making it stand out like a sore thumb. It had been stripped of most of its clothing, the most notable being its top and shoes. Short black hair stood out against the snow almost as intensely as the blood. Travis felt like throwing up as the heavy reality hit and Joko.
That could be Ted.
Joko moved forward, crowbar tightly in his hand. He walked right up to the body, shouting his eyes tight before letting out a breath and rolling it over with his foot. Travis could feel his heart pounding in his stomach and his vision was shaking.
He watched as Joko's eyes widened with horror before being replaced with a relieved smile and teary eyes as he looked up at Travis, "It's not him."
Those words hit him fast and hard. Panic was quickly replaced with relief. So fast in fact, that he doubled over and vomited. It hurt, it hurt a lot. He had forgotten how much he hated to throw up. His throat burned and his mouth was coated in bitterness as he emptied his stomach onto the ground. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes as he finished with one last gag. Shuddering, he slowly opened his eyes, making sure to avoid the mess now at his feet. Joko gave him a worried look as Travis rose up and walked over to look at the body himself.
"Are you okay?"
Travis nodded, about to say it wouldn't happen again, that it was a one time thing and he would be fine. But when he looked at the body, he wasn't sure he could stay true to that. The person's face looked nothing like Ted's, which was the only good to come out about the whole thing.
Travis' gaze was immediately drawn to the eyes, which were a mess. At first, he thought they had been taken out, but the closer he looked the more he realized that they were still there, they were just nearly completely liquid. Said liquid spilling out of the sockets and down the face, creating an illusion of tears. The torso had been crudely cut into, in fact it looked as if it had ripped open, and the things like ribs or organs had been removed.
Travis looked away, hoping to save his already weak stomach. While Joko on the other hand, kept looking at it, his face became more and more twisted with worry as time went on.
"We have to go, Travis. Call the others, whoever did this probably is still around, and I don't really want to run into them..." Joko started moving away from the body, grabbing Travis by his free arm and dragged him away.
Travis glanced behind him on time before switching the walkie-talkie back on. As soon as it was switched on, the pair was met with Schlatt practically screaming at them.
"-oko?! Travis?! What the fuck is going on?! Fucking answer!"
Travis flinched as Schlatt's voice echoed into the empty city, "Schlatt, we're here, please stop shouting..." He did not stop shouting. In fact, it took a good solid twenty seconds of Joko and Travis listening to Schlatt shout before Wilbur was able to calm him down. Travis waited a second, making sure he was actually going to to be able to speak, "Look. We can't talk for long, but Joko and I found something and we need to leave now. How close are you to the car?"
"What is going on-"
Joko grabbed the walkie-talkie from Travis, quickly spitting out a few words, "Schlatt for once, just fucking listen and don't ask fucking questions. Get to the car, and then we'll explain," Silence was all that met them, and Joko swallowed hard before continuing, "Thanks."
Joko didn't wait for an answer before he handed Travis the walkie-talkie. Travis glanced at Joko, who was looking everywhere, obviously trying to keep an eye out for anything dangerous, "Do you think Ted is okay?"
Joko nodded, "We would have heard a gunshot, I'm sure he's fine-"
The world seemed to want to prove them wrong so badly as a loud bang rang throughout the city, imminently shutting Joko up. Travis stopped dead in his tracks, staring at Joko whose eyes were wide and filled with fear. It took two seconds before they were racing towards the sound, in the opposite direction of the car, deeper into the city.
___________________
Another gunshot. Silence. Then another one. Each shot getting louder and louder, and each silence getting longer and longer.
The pair found themselves in front of a drug store, and Joko wasted no time jumping through the broken store window. Travis blinked, watching in shock before he entered the store himself, this time going through the front door.
The inside was a mess, with the floor covered in magazines, boxes of medicine and all the normal things you would find in a drug store. Joko looked around the store and Travis followed him as he went to go down an aisle.
The store was silent, and Joko scowled, "It's quiet... where-"
Joko was once again cut off as Ted ran down the aisle, his clothing caked in blood and one of his glasses lens was missing. Gun in hand and he came to a sudden halt as he stared at the two of them with terrified eyes, "Adores! We gotta fucking go!" He looked behind him and started to push them back towards the front entrance, "Come on, come on, I think I lost them but- Fuck!"
He stopped, his body tensed as he looked behind them, causing Joko and Travis to turn around as well. At the end of the aisle, were three men, all armed, thankful not with guns and looking very unfriendly.
Ted raised his gun and pulled the trigger, but no bullet came out, causing Ted to mutter, "Fuck."
The one in the front glared at Ted, eyes filled with anger and hatred. He opened his mouth, but his face suddenly broke into a smile, "Oh, today is a good day, Joko? Is that you? It has been a while!" Travis glanced at Joko, who looked ready to break. He looked like the first time Travis met him. Scared. He didn't say anything, causing the man to give a face of fake sadness, "No greeting? Oh, that's disappointing."
"Fuck you."
"Now, is that how you greet an old friend?"
"You're not an 'old friend', are you fucking kidding me?" Joko's tone was strained, and Travis could tell he was struggling not to yell. The man smiled as he took a step forward, causing Joko to tense up even more, "We don't need to do this."
The man laughed, but it had no joy or any sort of happiness behind it, "Oh no, we absolutely have to do this. Your friend there," A bony finger pointer at Ted, and the man's tone suddenly turned much darker, "He already shot some of us, and I'd say we need some payback." And with those words, the man rushed forward and swung his bat at Ted.
Ted let out a shout as he shot to the side, his back hitting the shelves with a hard thud. Joko raised his crowbar to help Ted, but had to avoid a new attacker and ended up further down the aisle. The last person to move stared at Travis with a manic look before rushing at him with a knife. Travis yelped as he narrowly avoided the blade, and without a second thought, Travis booked it down the aisle away from everyone else and towards the back of the store.
Find a weapon. Find a weapon. Find a weapon.
Travis' mind was screaming as he rushed down the space between the isles, heading to the back of the store before taking a sharp turn down another isle. He quickly looked behind him and watched as the man slid past the aisle before returning to chase him. Travis knew he wasn't gonna be able to outrun him, so he had to figure something out. And quick.
He ran out of the isle once again, not stopping as he scanned the area. He smiled as his eyes landed on an old mop laying on the ground. Running over, he picked it off the ground and swung his backpack onto his arm before whipping around to face the man.
Travis expected him to hesitate, to maybe slow down, but instead he kept running and quickly slashed at Travis. The knife missed Travis, but ended up slashing open the backpack, causing a few items of clothing to spill out. Travis didn't hesitate to attack himself and ended up hitting the man in the stomach.
The man stumbled back, giving Travis time to toss his backpack to the side, knowing it probably wouldn't be much help anymore. He took another swing, this one missing the man and allowed him to take slash at Travis again, this one connecting with his chest.
It wasn't deep, but it did sting and caused a decent amount of blood to start to pour. Travis hissed as he gently touched the cut, blood coating his fingers as he did so. His heart started to beat faster and faster, and he readied for another attack. The man ran at him again and Travis swung again, this time aiming for the man's neck.
Just like Cooper said to do.
The wooden stick of the mop connected with the man's neck, and a loud crunch happened. The man choked and fell to the floor, gripping his neck. A large red welt was already forming as Travis got ready to deliver another attack, until the man reached into his pocket, popped something into his mouth and swallowed.
Almost immediately, he fell backwards and his body began to shake. White foam started to spill out of his mouth as his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Travis watched in horror as the man suddenly stopped shaking, The knife had fallen out of his hand, which Travis went to reach for, but as he did the man's body shot to its feet, causing Travis to stumble back. He watched as it stumbled around before fully turning to him and Travis realized what really happened.
Corruption.