THE NEW WORLD: CHAPTER V

Signal

Greenwood, Delaware, 4 months after the Outbreak.

Their embrace was cut short as the impending doom arrived. They hear the ever-haunting sound of the dead walking outside, around their abode. They quickly grabbed their packed and prepared bags and ran down to their daughter's room. Elizabeth put her rifle to her back and slowly grabs their daughter. They prepare to move though they have no idea where to. Most of the things that they have are neatly tucked away in Harry's truck. As they look to the window they see the silhouettes of the zombies walking around.

"Oh no, how is she?" Harry asked. Elizabeth looked down onto their daughter and she is sound asleep.

"She might start weeping"

"We have no choice but to move now do we?"

"Yeah, into the garage"

Harry grabs Elizabeth's bag and headed to their garage. He did not even dare to drag their baggage down on the floor. Unlike Tobias, who has a fair amount of knowledge regarding the zombies, they other hand know nothing at all. All they know and has witnesses is that it attacks people, when they see a person all they do is immediately pounce on them and eviscerate them. So they acknowledge them more as humans that have the intention to kill them rather than a mindless flesh eating monster.

As they make their way to the garage a cold realization runs through Harry. He puts the bags down slowly and Elizabeth can only look as her husband tapos his body across looking for something.

"The radio?" She pointed out, Harry turns around and can only nod. "Upstairs" He whispers and he swiftly moved upstairs. As he makes his way up the stairs, he checks in their room and it was their laying. He grabs it and goes back to his family.

"I got it"

"Thank goodness" He turns on the radio and waits for any incoming signal. Lucky for them, his radio is two-way and therefore could possibly communicate with other radios. Thye managed to utilize the radios, especially those who have radios as part of their job. The town managed to communicate with one another in a series of calls and warnings, but as the months pass by they stopped communicating.

They continue to make their way into the garage, Elizabeth softly carries Louanne with her as she enters the truck. Harry gave the radio to his wife and she turns it on, awaiting for a signal. The babe squirms and makes frowns and her mother tries her best co calm her down back to sleep as her father clamours in panic to ensure their safety.

Harry did his last checks up in order to make sure the truck has not deteriorated to where they have to abandon it or there are somethings that they forgot. He peeks through the rusting holes at the bottom of the garage door to see that some of the zombies has already made their way in front of their house. It stunned him and crawls down try to see if he can see how dense the amount of the zombies in front of them are.

"There's not a lot, we can go" Harry said and Elizabeth 'hushed' him. She puts the radio close to him and she starts to dial it. "I swear I heard someone" Elizabeth said. Harry pushes her arm in and enters the vehicle and it was dead silent apart from their heavy breathing and the buzzing of the radio. She increases the volume as she awaits for anything to come through.

*He-llo... He* A disemboweled voice comes through. They made the word out easily replied back to the radio. "Is anyone there?" Harry spoke, there are spikes of sound coming through and there is someone definitely there; but it was a matter of the signal's strength.

*He-alO?* The voice comes through and they awaited until it clearly passes through.

*HELLO? HELLO? IS THERE ANYONE FROM GREENWOOD? I HEARD YOU* The clearcall out comes and it was a sigh of relief and joy as to whose voice is it.

"Toby?" Harry spoke with tears of joys in his eyes. He control his emotions as it poured out, hearing the voice of his little brother still loud and strong.

*Har- hear me?* His voice cuts in and out due to the unstable signal, but they both have made a connection. On the otherside of the signal, Tobias continues to dial the frequency to the right one. As he surfs through the dial it eventually picks up his brother's voice.

*Toby* Harry's voice spoke through. Tobias' mind is calmed down as they seem to show no signs of ditress within their voice, but afterall, he cannot really makeout what they are feeling or if they are even in any danger. Tobias gets out of his newly acquired vehicle and grabs the binoculars that Craig left for him and he looks to his sorry-town. Swarmed with the zombies that hungers for flesh, but he seems to be in a distance where he will not be noticed.

"Harry? You hear me?"

*I hear you little brother, clearly*

"Good to hear you too, well I can see out street from here and I can tell ya, its not looking so good"

*Didn't have to tell me, can you at least describe it?*

"Like a fucking protest"

*Good to now*

"Well, where are you guys? Still in the house?"

*Of course* Tobias' sight shifted to his house and sees the amount of zombies in front of it. There wasn't a lot compared to the ones to the otherside of the town, but they are slowly coming together. A clear opening is all they need to move out as the zombies are all moving lowly.

"Toby?" Harry asked as the other end just went silent.

"Sorry, but I think I can call on those things to get you out of there"

*Sure?* Harry and Elizabeth looks in confusion when they suddenly hear a loud distant revving and honking. "Is that you?" Harry asked, and Tobias did not want to reply as he continued to honk; referring to how he used Ryung-Ki's voice. Their house stands in the intersection between W Market Street and S 1st Street near the Greenwood United Methodist Church. Harry once more gets out of the car and looks under the rusting doors once more and sees the feet moving towards the noise. The noises finally stops and Tobias speaks to Elizabeth.

"All right, so this things are moving slowly, I'll give you a signal when you guys can get out... but I'll draw them out further"

*Okay, what do we do apart from waiting?*

"Stay in there, the remote... the garage is remote controlled right?"

*It is* Harry responds as he finally got back inside the car.

"Good, I'll drive to the otherside of town and pull all of these guys"

*Are you sure?*

"Yeah, of course" The 2 brothers take a deep sigh. 1 has to prepare himself to make a quick getaway while the other has to attract a whole horde of those zombies. Both have an integral part for the others survival and they have to set aside their ill-feelings for one another and just do as what they have to.

"Don't open the door, I'll tell you when okay? We need to maximize the distance for you"

*Yeah, its rusted and old* Tobias gets back into his car and looks around to see any path that he can take to distract the horde, he would definitely not go through it. Harry and Elizabeth hold hands as they await Tobias' signal. Elizabeth holds Louanne in her arms.

*Harry?* Tobias said.

"Yeah?"

*Turn on your truck* Without hesitation Harry followed his brother's words, even after all these he still trusts him. The low echo of the growl bouncing around the small room attracted zombies outside, Tobias then response with his vehicle's revving; and adding the horns of the car. The noise attracts the horde fully and makes their way towarsd him.

"Okay" Harry has nerves of his steel, he smiles as he felt embarassed at out he was all panicky earlier. They hear the noise coming closer to them and faint gun shots comes through. Tobias drives off the road and shoots down his window firing towards the herd. He fired his gun until the magazine runs dry, he pressed the honking in rythmic until he just presses it as hard and as long as he can. He passes by the fields and several roads.

'OVER HERE YOU FUCCCCKK!" Tobias screamed on tops of his lungs as when he gets near the horde. He gets into Governors avenue and S Church Street. There area around him is much more open and he can see a bigger size of the horde. The amount of zombie walking towards him are small and he can easily run them down.

"He went quiet" Elizabeth said, but was proven wrong as to how they can still hear him. He continues to hit his horn and steps out of the car. "OVER HERE!" He kept screaming and taunting the horde. He shows valor in the face of his impending death, he then goes back to the car and grabs 3 black bags and he holds his breathe as an odd odor comes through. He throws it down as his mental capacity would allow him. As they get over 70 feet closer to him he gets back into the car. The zombies are attracted to the bags that are filled with dead cats and dogs.

"Sorry animals"

Getting into the avenue, looking around and remembering everything in this place before this outbreak when he called this town his home. He drives down Governors avenue still with the loud honking and driving slowly. The small town brought a heavy feeling of Nostalgia into his heart especially this avenue as him and his brother and all friend of theirs ride their bikes through here until the sun sets.

As he gets to the end of the road he stops in front the Greenwood fire department and the Woodbridge Early Childhood Education center. He looks back and sees the crowd of zombie still moving towards him. He gets out and feels upset at what he witnesses. Both buildings were turned into a small garrison but they never managed to do it. As he makes his way towards the Center grabs his knife and machete. His noise attracts the zombies within and starts to kill them one by one. He grabs his radio and remains in contact with Harry.

"Toby where the fuck are you?"

*In the school center*

"All the way out there?"

*Yeah, I'll need to make a louder noise, car's not enough*

"Goodluck"

*Yeah, I'll join you guys, check outside see if there's still there*

"Not as much" Harry assured his brother. He gets out of the car and broke the mirror and looks outside and he can see them getting farther and farther away.

"Tell until there are no more things out there" Tobias tasked Elizabeth who is the only one listening to him.

*What will you do not Tobias?* Elizabeth asked, "Make a mess of the school" Tobias said as quick as Elizabeth asked him. He enters the school and quickly rushed through it, even grabbing weapons from the deceased soldiers. Stabbing their heads and kicking them to make sure that it is not alive, he keeps looking outside. He founds a room filled with chairs and filled it with gas tanks from the militray vehicles, he sees how far the zombies are and took his sweet time pouring the gasoline and fianlly setting it on fire.

"I might be a pyromaniac" Tobias said as he chuckled like a mad man as the bells ring. He gets out back to his car and kill any zombies that are not even close to him; practicing his shots. He gets into the car and drives around the school into sussex highway. The chairs and tables in the room easily catch on fire and the whole room was easily being engulfed by the fire.

*All right, get out now* Tobias said and Harry opens the garage door. The rusting door slwoly gets up and it is clearly struggling but Harry did not take the risk to go out and it push it upward; his paranoia got to him. The bells of the school was loud enough to attract a huge portion of the horde.

"Where are you?" Harry asked.

*Intersection, the highway and Market street, you better be ready*

The garage door suddenly snap open and it startled Louanne into waking up. Elizabeth coos and make kissy noises to calm her baby down as they drive out into the road. The 2 brothers step on the pedals of their car and drove westward. Tobias' performance car allowed him to quickly go back to Market Street and further back to W Market Street. Tobias stops beside Harry and pulls down the window.

"Harry, stay on me!

"Got it" The 2 drove as fast as there vehicles can in order to get out of the town. Elizabeth focuses on her daughter making sure that she feels safe. She mimicks all noises that she makes even the small whimpers to assure her that they are safe. As long as the 2 of them are there, nothing will ever go wrong.

Tobias keeps glancing at his rear-view mirror, checking to see if his brother slows down or not. They are clearly worried about each other and wishes the other safety. He taps his hand as he remembered the last time that they saw each other in a tragic way. They were beating each other near-death without an ounce of remorse.

The 2 cars slow down as they near Scottscorner, a smaller unincorporated community just a 6 minute drive from Greenwood. They stopped at a small abandoned chicken barbecue restaurant. Tobias steps out and stretches his whole body, he takes deep breathes as he almost died and smells the taste of soot; a familiar that he should be used to it now. He does not want to, he realized that he wants to live now and death was just a cowardly thing for him. He takes deep breathes to cleanse his lunsg with cleaner air and as he does that, the couple talks about what happened.

"Is she okay?" Harry asked, but Elizabeth just showed their daughter quiet and asleep. "Stay here" He left and pulls down the window for her. Despite what just happened, Harry seems to be 'cautious' of his little brother. He has no idea if he is still hostile towards him. He quietly approaches his brother and sees his hand covered in bandages and in a bit of blood.

"Little brother" Harry called on. Tobias pulls out a box of cigarettes and offeres his brother some, but he had to decline.

"Suit yourself"

"When did you start smoking?"

"NO fucking idea" The 2 brothers laugh at this small moment and Elizabeth can only smile as she sees them bonding.

"sooo… where did you come from?"

"Utica, up there is shit"

"Really shit?"

"Uh, yeah most of my company were annihilated, but I sent 2 of my friends, I guess, to Denton"

"Yeah, I heard… they made a camp there"

"Yeah, a small base of sorts, we called it 4 divisions.. it was an experiment almost to see if it thrives in this war, sort of"

"So" Before Harry could speak furthermore, Tobias had to cut in and his words made his older brother upset. "You know that Uncle Sean is mad at you" He said as he put out his cigarette and stares his brother down. Harry remained quiet and awaited for a fist fight to breakout amongs the 2, Elizabeth can only see the silhouettes of the 2 brothers as she cannot see their faces or hear them.

"Because we fought, dad's last words to him apparently was just for us to be, okay... but he never got to see it"

"We can change that you know"

"Sure" Their conversation quickly ended and Harry turns around to his wife who is slowly stepping out os their car. Still playing with their daughter who is now fully awake and interacting with her mother.

"What's her name" Tobias asked. Harry softly replied to his brother "Louanne" a name that moved him. He wanted to ask his little brother to come and approach her but Tobias refused and just looks at a distance. The couple seems to talk and he can hear the inaudible noises, the 2 starts appraoching him and he immediately puts out the lit cigarette down to the ground. Elizabeth wants to show Tobias his niece.

"Go on" Elizabeth insisted on Tobias carrying Louanne but he has to refuse as he never experienced carrying a baby before, and something as fragile as her. But he admired her from where he stands and he can see those innocent eyes look at him, they are the complete opposite in terms of everything.

"Tobias, what happened to you?" Elizabeth asked as she got a better look at her Brother-in-law.

"Chaos, all the way from Utica to down here, I was facing so many of those things, and you? You look, thinner than I remember"

"I gave birth to her, just when all of those things started to surround us"

"She gave birth" Tobias looks at his brother in awe and then exclaimed, "In the house?" Harry nodded and chuckled upon witnessing his face. "She's a strong woman" The only thing that he can really say to them. They laughed out loud startling the baby but it did not make her cry.

"Well, I'll see if there's something in here" He pointed to the building just right beside them. It appears to be a small diner that never got to reopen. He easily enters the small eatery through an open window and unlocks the front door for the other 2 to enter. He flicks the lights on and lucky for them there is still electricity running through. The building is empty, they go to the back to check if there is anything in the storage.

"Nothing?"

"Picked clean" The brothers went back to where Elizabeth is seating and she's feeding their daughter.

"I guess you guys can eat?"

"Well, do you have anything?"

"MREs?" Tobias offered as it is the only thing that he has now.

"Of course you do"

"Sure, I'll go get some" He heads out to his car and checks the trunk and notices a glare from a house adjacent to them. He looks to the windows as he takes the MREs. As he grab the food he hears the distant grumbling of a truck that he easily recognized. He goes down immediately to the ground instead of the restaurant. Noticing what he has done, not warning his brother, he can only look at the restaurant and hope that they don't come out. As the truck nears he starts blankly into the restaurant and sees Harry through the reflection of the glassdoor also bent down like he is. He hears the trucks drive pass behind him with an RV and a smiliar car to what they took from Utica, but it is unlikely. He goes down to his stomach and roll under the car as he looks at the vehicles driving by, it sent an icy shock down to his chest as he sees it stop right in front of the house where he sees the glare.

"Not good" He sees people coming out of the gun, heavily armed, the same voices that he heard from Staytonville and it got his heart running. He crawls forward and gets a clearer view of the people coming out and talking about their 'achievements'. They are being checked one by one then they enter the house. There's also a brown kid being dragged by the neck into the house which made Tobias angry, "fucking supremecist". He notices the boy bloody and clearly traumatized as he kept his head forward, they then drag another woman from the RV screaming obscenities. He awaits until everyone gets into the house to get back into the restaurant.

As he gets in he sees the 2 being held at gunpoint. He knows he can't fight back.

"sshhh, quiet boy" One of the man spoke as he grabbed Louanne off Elizabeth's arm. They cannot do anything but submit, the brothers felt pathetic as they easily grab the baby off their care.

"Give the child to her mother, you got us" Tobias pleaded but the man did not listen to him as he aimed a gun on his throat.

"We recognize that car" The man stated, "What about it?" Tobias replied trying his best to not be intimidated and show any signs of fear.

"What about it then?" Tobias replied trying his best to strike fear or at least show his fearlesness to the man.

"Its ours, what the fuck" He said frustradetly. He paces around angry at Tobias and ends his little act with "thief". His eyes is noticingly filled with tears. Tobias tries to step up to him but he was quickly hit in the head knocking him down to the ground. He kneels down to Tobias, "you know, because you stood up" He said and slowly walks up to Elizabeth and gave Louanne back to her mother's arm.

"What do you want from us?" Harry asked.

"What do you have to give?" Harry has no reply. Harry is also hit in the head and as his vision ablur he sees his little brother slowly losing conciousness. Elizabeth whimpers as she tries to not break down and make her baby upset. She sees the 2 men being dragged by their feet.

"Well Ma'am, we don't want to hurt you, we just want to save you" One of the soldiers slowly picked her up and aims a gun at the back of her head. They start to move towards the house and the men took their cars and drove it to the back of the house.

"Are you a doctor by any chance?" The person pointing at the back of her head asked, a woman. Elizabeth is reluctant but had to reply.

"I am"

"Good, we have wounded upstairs, could use your help, doc" They stopped in front of the house and the men restrained Harry and Tobias. Tobias is restrained with a duct tape and thrown into the RV, Harry is also tied up and they entered the house.

"Put him in there" Their 'leader' pointed into one of the rooms and his men followed as he asked. Elizabeth is unerved to the uncertainty.

"What will you do to him?" Elizabeth asked.

"Leverage, in case if you don't do anything... we will use him" The man spoke softly. Elizabeth's eyes widen as she sees the boy that Tobias saw earlier tied up in the neck being dragged towards them.

"What are you doing to him?"

"Oh this, this nigger is our little slave" The boy is tied up like a dog, enslaved.

"Let him go!" She pleaded but one of the cruel men replied, "Its our pet lady, what will happen to him if we let him go" Everyone of them laughed and the boy can only cry. Are yo-" She tried to speak to the boy but was stopped by one of the boy.

"Don't talk to the worm" The men said. The female 'soldier' that was pointed a gun at her brings a basket for her.

"Put your baby there" She said. The basket seems to be neatly made and it was soft and comfortable for the baby. She put Louanne down into the basket and carried it.

"Good, now boys, do keep eye on our men"

"YES!" Their reply startled Louanne but not enough to make her cry. Elizabeth stands up and is left alone with one of the soldiers. "Follow me" The boy signed to Elizabeth. The poor boy walked wealky in front of her, limping. She walks right beside him and aided him in walking straight, "thank you" he signed. Elizabeth signed with "You're Welcome". The face that she was able to communicate with him made the boy smile and eventually they walked up to the second floor.

The boy opens the door and 4 people are inside. 1 is one of their own men wounded in the leg and pointing at the other 3, who appears to be the boy's mother, a Korean woman who is only wearing a sports bra and guy badly beaten. Elizabeth quickly moved towarsd the bloody boy after leaving Louanne with the mute boy but she was pulled back closely to the man's chest. She starts to tear up, as he caresses his hand around her neck and above her chest. He tightly grabs her neck, and breathes down.

"Me bitch" The wounded man said as she pointed at his wound. He then continued to speak, "I need help, not that nigger, that fucking chink of a whore" She wakes up and glares at the wounded man.

"Don't be rude Moss, the pretty lady will help you heal up" She let's her go and she retaliates with a slap to his face. "A fighter" He did not hit her back and waited outside of the room as he puts down their first aid kit.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG?" One of the soldeirs screamed at him and they can hear him hit the man outside. The door opens and the men switch places.

"Lady, patch that dumb little retard up please, I ain't rushing ya" The man stayed in front of the door and not fully closing the door. "YOU GO DOWN THERE AND WATCH OVER THE ONE IN THE ROOM" He commanded the men that he had to result into physical violence in order to get his command into his head. The solider walks past their 'leader' and watches video tapes of erotic films and starts to enjoy himself too much.

Elizabeth carefully fixes the man's wounds and after finishing she is immediately tied up with the other 3 people. "Hey you, little nigger, tell the boss its done" The wounded man commanded the boy but he does not understand. The other man signed to him in order to understand him, even going as to far as to say 'Sorry'. "Scum" Elizabeth said to the man.

The boy slwoly walked down as his bruised legged and body made it hard to move. He sees their boss right in front of the TV, now switched off, and a man standing over him. He wears a vest and carries with him a bloody knife. He turns around with his finger on his mouth, hushing the boy. The boy mimicked him and immediately approached him.

"How many are the people up there?" Tobias asked. The boy did not understand and signed it back to him. "Oh" Tobias quickled signed his question and the boy replied by raising 2 of his fingers. He clenched both of his fist and extended his index fingers and put it together twice.

"Wounded who?" He signed.

"Bad guy" The boy signed to Tobias and whispered it. The boy then raised 3 fingers, 3 more people, and then doing the same motion for bad, but with a slight difference. It was the back of his hand instead of his palm.

"3 Good guys?" Tobias signed and the boy nodded in agreement. "You" He pointed to the boy, "Stay" opening his thumb and pinky with the exception of the other 3 fingers, "here" opening both of his palm then doing a small circle motion. He is not fluent in ASL but he knows the motions. The boy nodded. It made Tobas smile.

"HEY YOU LITTLE NIGGER!" one of the men shouted.

"I need to go" The boy signed.

"You stay here, keep still" Tobias replied, then hushed. He then sees a closet and pointed it to the boy then motioned him with 'Hide'. "Stay" The boy nodded and closed the closet door and left a small slit through to see. Tobias drops a vase and the man started to march down.

The 2 soldiers in the room were obviously alerted by the shouting and the loud shattering of the vase.

"I'll check it out" He goes down first. He seems to be 'annoyed' rather than alerted. He finally goes down to the ground floor and sees their boss who appears to sleeping. He aimed his gun as he seems motionless, he sees the broken vase and walks up to their leader. Tobias moves out of the closet and stabs him directly on his nape. He grabbed his rifle and slowly brings the body down with him. He quickly removes the knife as the door beside him start to open, 2 people came out with Harry's eyes tied shut and down on the ground.