Dead On Arrival~ Season 2- Episode 20: The Vultures (Part 1)

Note: Posted this last year on my tumblr. Haha, it was yesterday in 2019. xD

Episode 20: The Vultures (Part 1)

“No. Please. You can’t do this!” I heard DJ scream.

“Shut up!”

I slowly opened my eyes. My vision, blurry. All I could make out was colors and shapes, but I could hear DJ. He was in trouble.

“But…”

“Shut up!”

I heard a thump and low whimpering. I opened my eyes again. This time things were clearer now. I could see DJ laying in the dirt and three masked individuals surrounding him. All in leather jackets. One of them was a hulking man in a skull mask, another in a pig mask, and there was a smaller figure amongst them in a very familiar white cat mask. I was sure the cat one was the one from before. My so-called phantom who stalked us earlier. They aimed a gun right at DJ while the other two new ones stood by armed with rifles.

I called out to them and reached out my hand. “No…DJ. Don’t…don’t hurt him.”


I was surprised they even heard me with how weak my voice sounded. It sounded so foreign to me. I knew something was wrong. Just breathing was pain-inducing. I cringed as an intense pain radiated from deep inside me, but I tried to remain focus on the situation. I got their attention away from my friend and that was a start in my mind. My smaller seemingly feminine phantom lowered her gun and gestured to the other two to standby. She walked over and stopped in front of me.

She stared down at me menacingly. “You’re supposed to be dead. Why are you alive?!”

I wasn’t quite prepared for the pain I would feel next. She kicked me hard in the side. The first blow made it feel like my body was going to explode, but she continued.

“Die already!” she roared kicking me even harder. She kicked and kicked. Every kick harder and faster with her big boot. I yelled out and squirmed in pain. Grinding of bone could be felt shifting inside me. I nearly blacked out, but she stopped after one last powerful blow. That last one turned me on my side and I curled up, but I remained conscious gasping for air.

She then gestured for one of her big brutes to come over and drag me to where DJ now sat. The skull one came over. As he dragged me I felt indescribable pain and screamed in agony. He let me go and I fell into a heap shaking. DJ hurried to my side looking positivity horrified as the frightening skull mask man watched over us.

“Get the other guy,” she spat at her other minion. He nodded and they both walked away out of view. She came back seconds later rolling a cart. The same cart we had been using to carry scrap metal. In fact, all the metal we had gathered was still there. She dumped it out on the ground and thew DJ’s crossbow in the cart. She collected the bows and picked up what looked like my ax.

As I watched her, her minion in the pig mask came back dragging a motionless Vince. He dragged him to the side as he whistled merrily to himself. He kneeled down over him and started to reach in his pockets, but as he did Vince suddenly came to life and kicked him.

The man fell backward letting out a yelp and the woman came rushing over to his side. She immediately aimed her gun at Vince.

“Oh for fuck sakes!” she huffed. “Get up and restrain him already.”

He grumbled but did as he was told. He sat Vince up and forced him on his knees. He tied his hands up with zip ties. She then kneeled down to Vince’s eye level.

“How about you cooperate and spare us the extra bullshit, huh?”

“Fuck off!” he roared. He then spat at her and his saliva hit her mask.

She shook her head. “Good thing for you I’m wearing a mask or I would be very angry about that,” she chuckled. “Now, let’s see. You’re hurt? Is that a bullet wound?”

She touched his abdomen and looked at the bright red blood on her fingers. She rubbed it between them and seemed almost mesmerized by it.

“Did I do this?”

Then without warning, she jabbed those fingers in what I assumed was the wound. Vince’s eyes grew wide and he screamed like I never heard him. He squirmed as she laughed maniacally. That same laugh I heard earlier. It brought chills down my spine.

She pulled her fingers away and blood dripped from the wound like a leaky faucet. Vince’s fight and vigor clearly gone as he slumped over quivering.

She felt the blood between her fingers again.“Not so tough now are we?” She giggled. “You know they can smell this right? I bet they can smell it now just wishing they could have a bite.”

She then stood up and pointed to her pig mask henchmen. “Search him and do it quick. We need to get out of here.”

He threw Vince on the ground and grind his face into the dirt with his boot.

He gave him a good kick and proceeded to search him. He took several trinkets and a pocket knife. He dragged Vince over to the middle where we sat. He then to my shock cut Vince’s hands free.

“Do anything and I’ll kill your friends. Understand?” he snarled. He then looked at us. “Same for you.”

He walked over to the cart joining the woman. The skull mask man keeping his gun on us the whole time. As he remained on guard, his cohorts study our weapons. Each taking turns playfully posing with them.

“I’ll call dibs on the machete,” he jested.

She groaned. “No fair!”

“You’re can have the crossbow.”

“Whatever. Just pull the car around.”

They then got serious again. The man hurried off and the woman turned her attention back to us. She took out a handgun and checked it’s bullets. She then threw us the gun to our amazement.

“I consider myself a fair person. There’s three bullets in there. One for you each in the event you get bit or worse. Use them wisely.”

The rev of an engine could be heard in the distance as she said this and a strange armored vehicle with a shovel pulled up. Vince picked up the gun and checked the chamber. Three bullets as she said were in it.

DJ then suddenly looked frantic looking around. He waved his hand to get the woman’s attention. “Wait! Our friend! The lady who was with us. Where is she?!” he cried.

The woman stopped and looked back at him. Her posture, rigid and cold. She said nothing. She turned back and continued walking towards the vehicle while Vince took aim.

“Wait!” I shouted, but it was too late.

Everything happened in slow motion. A single shot rang out and the woman’s head jerked forward. I was fully expecting more gunfire and bullets to fly in our direction, but neither happened. Instead, she turned around and held the side of her head. She ordered her henchmen to go and jumped onto the vehicle. They sped off leaving us sitting there puzzled.

“Wait? For what? I’m sorry I missed!” Vince fumed glaring at me.

“You could have got us killed,” I mumbled struggling to breathe. “We might need those bullets.”

“I’m not offing myself if that’s what you mean.”

“No…numbskull.”

DJ furrowed his brow. “But why give it to us in the first place?”

Unfortunately, DJ’s question would be answered. Suddenly, car alarms rung out around us. Then the sickening sound of walkers could be heard with them. Hands and arms dug their way out of the trash heaps like graves. Twisted bodies hobbled their way toward us from where the car had disappeared.

“I thought you said it wasn’t any walkers,” DJ yelled as he climbed to his feet.

“How the fuck was I supposed to know? It wasn’t at first,” Vince said grunting as he rose up gingerly holding onto his stomach.

They both helped me up to my relief and the three us stood back to back at a loss for words or ideas. Would we die here?

“Over here,” a voice called out.

We looked over to see a young man waving us down. The three of us looked at each other. It almost seemed like a mirage. He looked be standing in a doorway with a large metal door made into a trash heap. If it wasn’t for my comrades seeing it, I’m pretty sure I would think I was hallucinating.

“In the words of the Terminator, come with me if you want to live!” he said in his best Arnold impression.

We looked at each other again. Confusion spread across all of our faces, but we ran towards him and he shut the metal door behind us as we dived in. Just in time too. The walkers were on our tails. They banged and clawed at the doors. It was a relief to get away from them. My body slid to the floor almost instinctively. What little adrenaline I had left depleted, but my eyes scanned the place. I wasn’t too sure where we were. It looked like a giant metal room from first glance, but as my eyes adjusted I realized we were in a giant shipping container.

“Are you alright?” the young man asked looking down at me. I looked up into a boyish face with short brown hair and bright green eyes. He looked to be about twenty at most. He wore a hoodie and jeans, but also a mask pushed sideway off his face. A strange white mask with a toothy grin. It almost looked like a dog. My eyes narrowed on it. He smiled nervously. “Is something the matter?”

We heard the click of a gun and I looked up to see Vince aiming the gun we received at the boy. He turned around and put his hands up with a stunned and almost fearful expression on his face.

“Nice mask,” Vince said smirking. “Let me see. I used one bullet, so I have two left. Each one for one of your legs maybe or I can just empty the clip in your face.”

“I’m trying to help!”

Yeah sure. Just like the other three masked freaks who just helped themselves to our weapons and left us for dead.“

"I’m not like them.”

“Oh really?”

“I’m serious. I’m not! I want to help!” he cried. He sighed lowering voice. “I’m sorry. Let me introduce myself. My name. My real name is Billy. Nice to meet you.”

DJ perplexed. “Billy?”

“Yeah. We don’t usually share our names.”

“We?”

“Yes. My group. We don’t go by anything official really. Well, Ace often likes to call us a bunch of vultures and we sometimes jokingly call ourselves that. The Vultures”…, he said. He furrowed his brow and crossed his arms. “It sounds sort of stupid when I say it out loud.”

“It sounds ok. Kind of cool.”

“Really?”

“Um…excuse me, but can we get to the point?!” Vince huffed still aiming the gun at him. “Why are you helping us?”

“Oh, sorry,” Billy said blushing. “So yeah. Well, I was watching. From in here. I saw what was happening and well I wanted to help. I didn’t want to stand by anymore. So…um let me help you?”

The three of us stared at him like he was crazy. He smiled nervously again. “So yeah. Um…let’s go?”

“Go where?” Martez scoffed. He pointed to the door. “There’s still corpses outside and we need to find our friend. She might be still out there. That’s if she’s not…”

“Dead?” DJ said finishing his sentence looking upset.

Billy beamed suddenly. “You guys are talking about Lin?”

Vince gasped. "Woah. Woah. How?”

“Well, my sister had me out on recon after she trapped you guys. Told me to look for survivors. I found Lin buried under some hefty trash, but I dug her out and she was alive. Really alive. I was planning to take you to her actually. I can take you to her if you want.”

Sorry for the delay. Part 2 on the way. It just needs piccies and maybe a small rewrite. I’ll be doing that ASAP.