Stage One: Hope in Darkness

Prisoners (Lara)

After we all split up I went to find the prison. I was mostly running blind here. I had seen it at a glance and the rest was from rumors I had managed to catch while I was stuck in that cell. Hopefully this plan goes well and doesn’t backfire in my face. I follow the mental map I manage to cobble together. Sneaking around patrols and avoiding all the rippers proves difficult but I am used to this. Avoiding things and sneaking around was what I was good at. A building that looks an awful lot like a school building comes into view. Homemade barbed wire and the number of guards tells me this is the right place. 

Getting closer I can see a side door, one that has a guard sleeping. He is reclined back in a chair and snoring softly. Too bad for him. Creeping up on him, snapping his neck before he can even notice my presence. I take his gear, strapping on his vest and attaching his knives and gun to my belt. The armor is too big and looks awkward on me but it just needed to look good enough at a distance so anyone watching would see one of their own. 

Inside is a room lined with lockers, all labeled. This seems like some kind of space for the guards. That meant I would have to be extra careful not to get caught. Shadow wasn’t kidding there were a shit ton of guards. If I got found it would mean death. There was a door with a fog glass window, so not a cell. I open it and find a little office. Sitting right there out in the open on the desk is a set of keys, It couldn’t be that easy right? These guys were too comfortable. So sure that no one would be able to get into the city that they had let their guards down. Huge mistake, this was an apocalypse. One mistake could cost you everything. 

A couple of guards stood in the halls. I stood tall, acting like I belonged there. I kept my distance and gave some half hearted nods. It did the trick. I made my way to the cells. Opening the first one I whispered quietly to its occupants. My plan wasn’t very good but it was better than what they had so they listened. Now there would be no pretending to be one of them. One of their own wouldn’t be opening the cells and having a hoard of prisoners following. Cell by cell I went through. Occasionally I had to kill a guard, so far I hadn’t had to shoot. Only using the knives. 

By the time we got caught it was too late. The prisoners overwhelmed what was left of the guards and the prison was ours. All in all it took about an hour. Sets of keys were passed around and the others took over letting people out of the cells. I sat in the main office going over the plan with the released prisoners. 

“Lara?” I hear as Ryan speaks up from the doorway. I smile and throw myself at him, nearly taking us both down. He holds me tight and I can see Sam’s form over his shoulder. I release Ryan and give Sam the same bone crushing hug. Laughing in relief as I do so. 

“I can’t believe it,” Sam squeezes me back with the same intensity. 

“I wasn’t easy,” I assure him and let him go, “but this fight isn’t over yet”. Eager faces greet me as I turn around. Everyone looked ready to get some payback. Grim lines are drawn on their brows. I move through the crowd. Going so far as to stand on the desk so everyone can see me. 

“Can I have your attention!” I yell and watch as the murmurs die down and all eyes turn to me.

“Are you going to get us out?” a woman calls out. 

“Uh… Here’s the thing, I didn’t just rescue you all to help you run away.” I see as eyes go wide, come on keep going Lara you can do this, “I need your help.. All of your help… I am here with a small group of people, we are going to take over the city from the guy they call ‘Master’ and-”

“Take over the city?” A voices speaks out, others join in.

“Why would you want that?”

“We have to leave!”

The voices only grow. Arguing and yelling. The noise gets louder.This is getting out of hand, I have to do something to keep control.

“Stop!” I scream, the voices quiet down. “I know this sounds stupid but we need help and if we can take the city then the walls will keep out the walkers. We could thrive here instead of just surviving.”

“How exactly do you plan on us fighting back?! They have the damn guns, if we go out there all we would be doing is dying!” a man yells out.

I try to keep my tone as calm as I can manage, “I have someone working on breaking into the weapons vault as we speak and if we move fast we can arm ourselves.”

“You’re crazy!”

“I’m so not doing this.” Seriously! Why couldn’t they see that this was our best option? Or could they just not understand that ushering a hoard of people out of the city without a fight was impossible.

“Wait!” I snap, my anger finally getting the best of me. My patience for their childish antics was all gone now. “I don’t want to do this either, but we- Yes We- are left with no choice. These Rippers are vicious…. Yes they killed innocent people and control the walkers… but without Us they are nothing.” I am practically screaming now, and no one dares to interrupt now that I am on a roll, “Without us those monsters wouldn’t have food, water, and supplies to build these walls that keep them safe!” huffing and probably red in the face I end my little speech.

“Yeah,” a chorus of consensus goes through the crowd.

“Without us they would have died! We are the survivors of this world!” I call out. This speech was not half bad. 

“Sounds like you are blaming all of us for this mess!” A man counters, seriously, there has always got to be one. 

“No I’m not. What I am saying is that we did all the work to put them on top of the world…. so who’s to say we can’t bring them down” My throat was starting to hurt from all the yelling, “We gave them everything and we can take it all away,” Cheers ring out, “These assholes thought they could break us. Let’s prove them wrong.” Raising an army was hard work, I was going to need a serious nap after all of this.

“Then what are we waiting for? We’re going to take back what is rightfully ours!” Ryan and Sam are looking up at me through the crowd with looks of awe. It is like they are seeing a stranger standing on this desk. The shy, nightmare filled girl that I was is all but gone now. 

“We can build this city to be a beacon of hope! Hope for a better future for your families, and who knows maybe someday remove the walkers… permanently. But today we fight for our freedom..” Another glance around at the crowd, now every determine eye is fixed on me, “For life. Our families, friends, we have to fight.” I smile wide. Thank the heavens I finally got them all on board. Now I was just riling them up. 

“What’s your plan?” One asks, not sarcastically this time either. I smile, I can’t help it.

“The weapons vault should be opened now so… I’m going to grab a weapon and blow the living shit out of as many rippers and walkers as I possibly can,” The energy in the room continues to grow, “and I will not stop until my dying breath because you, the true survivors of this world deserve that!” 

“Yeah!” Shouts of kill the rippers goes out. Well I managed to whip up an angry mob. I felt like giving myself a pat on the back. My part of the plan was taken care of. Let’s hope the others are having as much success. 

“Who will join me?!” Fists raised in the air, and screams of war. My army was ready and I was going to use them to bring the rippers to Hell’s front door.

*Author's Note:
Hey everyone I am so sorry that this update took so long. I had some personal things going on. Things have finally calmed down now though so I will be updating this story regularly again. Thank you for reading my story.