The Story of Rudy || The walking dead

37. Rudy's secret

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The grip Rudy had around the handles was tight, his arms were weak, and his hands were shaking, but he was trying to stop it. The blood had stopped, but his body was exhausted, and the blood that he lost wasn't helping him.

His skin became pale, and his eyes were growing heavy, but he blinked the tiredness away, shaking his head as he did so.

The movement caught Mitch's attention. "Are you okay?" Mitch questioned, and Rudy glanced at him before looking ahead of him.

It was nighttime, and the stars looked beautiful, especially through his view.

"I'm fine." He replied, but it was a lie. He was exhausted, and his body was slowly shutting down on him. He couldn't just shut down. They were almost at the CRM.

Mitch didn't believe Rudy with the way his voice sounded. Rudy sounded exhausted like just by the mere reply, tired him out,

Mitch eyes traveled down, looking for any sort of cause for it, and that's when he spotted it. The patch on Rudy's side, it blended in with uniform , and nobody noticed if they weren't looking closely, but Mitch was always paying close attention to Rudy.

"Rudy, what the actual fuck?" Mitch questioned, grabbing a rag from his bag and pressing it against Rudy's side.

Rudy hissed in pain, throwing Mitch a look, "Ow, the hell?"

Mitch narrowed his eyes at him, "Yeah, the hell happened?"

"I was stabbed, remember? Just reopened my stitches, and the blood stopped."

Mitch rolled his eyes, scoffing as loud as he could, so Rudy could hear him, "Right,why didn't you say anything! You're literally flying right now. You could've passed out and killed us all!"

"It doesn't matter, I have to get us back to the CRM. I was fine by myself. You were free to go, Mitch. You were close to freedom, and I didn't ask you to come back, "Rudy told him, glancing at him, his eyes meeting Mitch briefly

"You and I both knew there was an outpost that you could've taken, Murphy." He looked back towards the front, seeing the CRM.

"Why aren't we enough for you to just leave,huh? Why aren't I enough?" Mitch questioned,

"And don't say, you don't understand because I understand you're just being stubborn and stupid, putting your own life at risk, for what? A government that doesn't give a shit if you die or not?"

Rudy didn't say anything. There was another reason why Beale needed to die, why Rudy needed to change the CRM, and not just destroy it.

He had a secret, a secret that Beale didn't know until Jadis found out and told him. It was another reason why Rudy couldn't leave the CRM that easily.

"..look, you may think that I'm a tough asshole who doesn't care about anything," Rudy spoke, his voice calm, "but for one second,did you even think about the people of the republic?"

"I am sacrificing everything for those people, not the CRM. There are soldiers who are good men, good people who have families in the city, those we need to protect,"

"You had your chance of leaving. You should've taken it because," Rudy landed the helicopter in a landing pad and looked at Mitch ,

"There won't be another one."

🪓

Early in the morning, Rudy walked down the hallway towards the office of General Beale.

He spent the night resting in the nurse office, and he wasn't fully rested or healed, but it was enough.

Rudy reached the office and walked in without knocking or announcing himself as he usually did.

Beale was sitting by his desk and looked up when Rudy entered.

"You disobeyed a direct order, knowing there were lives at stake." Beale told him, and Rudy glared at him,

"My team aren't traitors, it was Jadis, she planned an attack from the beginning." Rudy lied, and Beale hummed,

"Then what about the grimes? Where are they?" Beale questioned,

"Dead."

Beale sighed, standing up, "Rudy, over the years, I've gained respect for you because you followed orders, but lately.."

"You've been disobeying orders, and I can't have that. So, I am going to do something that we both won't like..bring them in!"

Rudy turned around as the door opened, and two spoilers pushed four people inside of the room, and Rudy snapped his head over at Beale, anger swarming in those blue eyes.

"Dad!" A little girl cried out, being held against a young teen boy, who was glaring at the soldiers as two girls hid behind him, all frightened.

"Let them go." Rudy demanded, but Beale ignored him, pulling out a sword.

"They won't feel a thing."

Rudy pulled out his hand gun, quickly switching the safety off, and shooting the soldiers in the head, causing the children to scream, and Rudy aimed his gun at Beale, standing in front of his children.

Those four children were a part of the CRM younger training program, and Rudy only knew about them after filling in for lieutenant Okafor one day,

It was the four of them. They were orphans, no parents, no siblings, just kids who Beale decided to make into soldiers.

Rudy saw his younger self in them, having been in the same they were before, and he couldn't let them turn out like him,

So, he secretly adopted them, and the four of them went to the city. Rudy would often visit them in his free time, but he was always at the CRM.

The children were cared for by an elderly woman.

Rudy shot Beale in the knees, causing him to shout in pain, dropping his sword,and it clattered to the ground, and Rudy walked over to him,

"Close your eyes." He said, and Beale chuckled, "why? Too much of a coward to look me in the eyes?"

Rudy smirked down at him, crouching down to his height, "I wasn't talking to you."

Beale glanced behind, seeing the children with their eyes shut, and Rudy pulled out his knife, slashing Beale throat open,

"You will walk among the dead, Beale. Walk among the people you murdered." Rudy whispered to him, standing up,

He turned to face his children before he snapped his head out of the window as gunfire sounded,

"Damm it!" He cursed,

"Come on, let's go. Stay behind me." He told them, and they nodded, quickly following after Rudy.

The gunfire was distant yet close, and Rudy rounded a corner before pausing seeing smoke, but not just any smoke.

"Gas! Gas! Turn around!"

🪓

1094 words

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