Chapter Text
Sirona, Virginia.
The roads around the small town of Sirona had long been abandoned by the living; cars left abandoned, some where crashed into others, some had been pulled over to the sides of the road, most had their door left open from where people had fled in a rush when the dead had come and overran the living. One road in particular, one that lead to interstate-85, was impassable due to the way it had been abandoned during the first days of the outbreak. The road was crowded with vehicles that had been left behind, the pavement was painted with splatters of blood, there had been no rain as of yet to wash away the marks of chaos from the stone. The state had been experiencing they usual dry warm weather, not yet entering the milder temperature of fall just yet. Yet, no amount of rain could wash away the stink of decomposition and death that lingered in the air, the bodies of those that had been put down were scattered around the area; some were laying on the pavement, others were slumped against the cars, falling across the bonnets, some hadn't even managed to get out of their cars, trapped by their seatbelts. Their means of escape had became their tombs, the road they thought would lead them to safety had became little more than a graveyard.
Two figures walked through the mess of cars left on Lark Lane, unable to get their car any closer to where they wanted to be. Each step was taken with caution, each noise drew their attention; every car door swinging at rusted hinges, every rustling of the leaves on the surrounding tree, every crunch of shattered glass under booted foot had them checking their surroundings incase any dead wandered out of the shade of the surrounding trees at the sounds. None came, yet neither person relaxed. One of the two, a black man in his mid twenties, kept his hold on the leather grip of his machete tight as he walked four steps behind his companion, his eyes darted to every noise, looked to every still body just incase one wasn't as still as it should be, eyeing the spaces between the cars and the road incase something was lurking beneath them. The second, the one leading the well known way to where they needed to be, a woman in her thirty's older and more experienced with hostile environments walked with an arrow nocked in her bow that she held relaxed in front of her, yet despite her seemingly relaxed posture, her eyes took in everything surrounding her, noting where everything was relative to herself, every car, every decomposing body, every open door and knocked over bag. Everything was noticed as the two walked, between the two of them nothing went unseen, or unheard.
It only took a few minutes of cautious walking through the abandoned cars before the stink of rotten skin and shit was overtaken by the smell petrol and brunt flesh as the pair reached the main reason for the roadblock; a car crash. What was left implied something terrible had happened amongst the chaos when most of the towns people had attempted to flee Sirona. There were more cars beyond the crash; about two dozen cars that weren't as densely gathered but left on the road all the same. The cars involved a few cars, they had crashed into each other and were so burnt that it was difficult to say how many car were actually involved, it could have been as few as three or as many as seven, they could tell as truck cab seemed to have melted into van side. two cars still had the burnt bodies of those that couldn't escape sitting in the seats, adult and children, even a baby still sitting in the charred remains of their carseat; there was a body laying face down on the road only feet from the crash, too burnt to identify. The crash took up the width of the road just in front of the turn in for the only petrol station within miles. Neither truly knew what had happened to cause it, they had seen the explosion from the town but the fires had already be burning long before they had made it to the scene that fateful day, but they could draw their own conclusion from the aftermath that had found when the fires had burned out.
Inside the gas station, a figure spotted the two outside, ducking down behind the shelves to keep from being noticed as she crept along to the door of the back room where her small group of five were temporary staying for the night before they would be packing up in the morning to go a different route. Although to call her group a 'group' may be over exaggerating it as the was one of two adults travel with them, the other three were children.
Dorothea 'Thea' Baudelaire turned her eyes away from the sight as she turned towards the abandoned gas station, best not linger on this that are gone. If she did, she'd never stop thinking about them, the ones who took a change with the unknown. She could only hope and pray that some people managed to make it out, had gotten to safety, were able to escape before the Empties could get to them. She took several steps toward the gas station before noticing that she couldn't hear a second set of footsteps. Thea turned back to look at her companion, arms tensed and prepared to raise her bow before easing slightly at the sight of nothing dangerous. "Marcus." She said softly, her voice cutting through the silence like a hot knife through softened butter. Marcus jolted at the sudden sound, his head snapping towards the veteran, looking away from the burned backseat; the car seat and the remains still in it. "Come on. It's best not to linger."
Marcus nodded, not glancing back to the car even though the knowledge of what was there weighed on his mind and his heart. Thea turned back to the gas station and began walking again, this time Marcus followed her quietly. The one story building was quiet, still, as the trees behind it rustled in the soft late October breeze, there was no one stood behind the cashier counter, no one browsing the aisles no one stocking the shelves, There was no hum of the refrigerators no hum of the fluorescent lights. Just silence. Thea slowly pushed open the door, and for a moment she braced herself for the bell that hung above the door to ring, no sound came. They had removed the bell weeks ago to stop it drawing attention.
Thea stepped into the gas station first, glancing around at the mostly full shelves. There was still a good number of things left to be scavenged, but no one ever really drove down this particular road. Thea and her group had left the gas station alone, leaving whatever was inside for anyone else who might happen to try and come down this way, even if that was looking less likely as the days went by.
"Doesn't look like anyone's been here." Marcus said, keeping his voice low as he closed the door behind him.
"Still have to check." Thea told him, her eyes drifted almost lazily across the room before stopping on the door behind the counter as she watched it moved the tiniest bit before it closed fully, she knew that the door lead to a back kitchenette area for cashiers and stockers, she also knew that the door had to be pushed closed because the frame wasn't straight so the door was often cracked slightly open. "Back room." She said quietly, drawing the bow string back slightly and carefully making her way through the aisles towards the counter. Marcus moved to the next aisle along, walking up it quickly but also watching his step.
Inside the back room, Michonne and Jackson stared at the door, she held her katana in hand while he raised his M16 rifled but kept his finger off of the trigger for now. Behind them, hidden behind a couple pallets the y had dragged in to sleep on, the three kids hid from view of the door, one was Michonne's own son and the other two were a pair of sisters that the pair had discovered in North Carolina at at minimart during a scavenging trip. The two waited, expecting for the new coming to burst into the room. Instead the received a knock on the door.
"Is anyone in there?" Thea called, hoping her voice was loud enough to be heard through the door. "If you are, can you come out here please?" She asked, "We just want to talk." No response, silence in the room but fairly she could hear the sound of shuffling. "If you're hurt I might be able to help, I'm a doctor." Michonne's eyes darted to the pallets that his the three kids, one of the sister, the younger one Kayla, was beginning to get a fever, and she was complaining about felling dizzy more often, and she was throwing up anything she eat. Perhaps. She looked back, her eyes meeting Jackson's as the younger solider seemed to have the same thought. They stayed quiet and after moment of no responses the woman on the other side of the door spoke again, "Look, I saw someone close the door, so I know someone's in there."
"No one's injured." Jackson spoke up, his voice deep and commanding in contrast to the woman's softer vocals. "So you can be on your way, we don't need help here."
'We' the man had said, indicating that there was probably more than one person in there. Thea took note of the word. "Okay, we'll be leaving you be if that's what you want." Thea told them, no need to antagonise a group of people when she didn't know how many she was going against. But there was something familiar about the voice on the other side of the door, something that ached at her brain that she could not name, like she knew whose voice it was. "But, you know, this gas station is really secure." Thea warned them, "If you would like, you can come with us, we have a place that’s safer then here."
Michonne almost scoffed out loud. No where was safe anymore. They had passed numerous campsites, farms, school, and community centres where people had tried to hold up and wait out this mess and all of them were empty and bloodied, it didn't take a rocket scientist to put two and two together to realise what went down at those places. Jackson stared at the door, was that their ploy? Make promises about safety and then kill them when they let their guard down and take their stuff, they wouldn’t be the first people to try to trick them. “Thank you for the offer.” Jackson said, keeping his tone as polite as he could. They didn’t know what kind of weaponry the people outside had on them, no need to possibly antagonise them. “But we’re just passing through, not staying longer than tonight.”
”I understand.” Thea said. It seemed like those people had a destination in mind and wouldn’t be swayed from the decision. “Well, I hope you get to where you’re going. But if you don’t and you find yourself back here, you should know that we do regular checks, every couple of days.” She told him, “The offer will still be there if you need it, just tell whoever comes to check the boxes that Thea offered.”
Jackson glanced to the box that she was referring to, a wooden crate box filled with maps, MREs, a few granola bars and some packets of jerky, about six bottles of water and a couple blankets. It was probably not as necessary as it was intended to be given that the gas station hadn’t been as raided as most places they had been to, to out of the way for heavy survivor traffic, but the sentiment was noticed. A piece of cardboard was placed above the box, 'Take what you need, leave what you don't, may you make it through this.' It was a nice thing to do, to eave things behind incase anyone who needed them came across them. Jackson looked back to the door as a sudden possible realisation struck him; Thea. The woman had said Thea. it couldn't be, what were the chance that this was his Thea. The world was a smoking ruin, society had collapsed on itself and the dead seemed to outnumber the living a million to one. But how many Thea's could there be leave, especially this close to his home town. "Thea who?" he asked, hearing shuffling on the other side of the door as who ever was there moved away.
Thea and Marcus stooped, looking at each other as the question was asked, "Pardon?"
"Thea who?" Jackson repeated, slowly lowering his gun from its position aimed at the door. If this was who he thought it could be then he didn't want to be aiming a gun at her.
Thea stepped back towards at the door. "Baudelaire. My name's Thea Baudelaire." She told them, "Why do you ask?"
Jackson felt his shoulder's relax. He knew that the woman's voice was familiar, now he knew why. He had hoped, prayed and dreamed that his family had managed to make it through the worst of this mess, managed to survive the dead, but to know that even one from his family had lived made him confident that others had too. Was his mom here? His sisters? Had his grandparent made it through? His cousins? Was his brother here? So many questions that had circled his head for weeks, questions that he could finally get answered because on the other side of that door was Thea, his aunt Thea, Thea who he had grown up watching wrangle bulls and handle rattlesnakes without fear. Thea who made it back from the most hostile war zones. If Thea was here, then they would be okay. Jackson wasn't a little kid anymore, he was a man, a solider, yet knowing that he had found some part of his family, even if it was the only piece remaining, made him want to weep like a kid. Jackson reach out a hand, pushing down the handle.
"What are you doing?" Michonne hissed, reaching a hand out to stop him but she was too late.
Jackson ignored her and pulled open the door, letting the light from the main store floor into the back room. It was her. Jack had only had a small doubt that it wasn't, but it evaporated like smoke upon seeing her face. His aunt Thea was there, right in front of him with a arrow nocked in the same bow that Jackson and Annalise had both begged to learn how to to use when they were younger because they wanted to be like their 'cool aunt', the bow was pointed down but Jackson had no illusions that Thea could raise , draw and shot it in a matter of seconds if she needed to. He stared at her and watched her face as she realised who she was looking at, watched the guarded surprise turn to shock that turned to relieve that turned to joy. "Aunt Thea." He muttered.
"Jackson." Thea whispered, not actually believing that he was here, yet the image did dissipate, his didn't vanish as she blinked. He was here, her nephew was actually here, at the edge of Sirona, he had made it back home. She unnocked the arrow in her bow, putting the arrow back in her quiver in a well-practiced movement. She lunged at the boy, having to stand on her tip toes to be able to wrap her arms around his neck, and even then he had to lean down slightly to hug her back. Thea wasn't a short woman, standing 5'7 and taller than average but she appeared simply tiny compared to her 6'5 nephew. "You're alive. You're okay."
"I'm alive." Jackson agreed, holding his aunt closer for a second before letting her closer. He caught the glint of metal reflection the light in the corner of his eye, "Michonne, it's alright. I know them, this is my aunt Thea. Aunt Thea, this is Michonne." He introduced the both of them to each other., watching as the women eyed each other for a moment before Michonne's tense stance eased slightly and she put her katana back in the sheath across her back. Jackson nodded to Marcus, recognising him as one of the guys who worked with the cattle on his grandparents property, the guy was only a couple years younger than he was.
Thea looked away from the woman and stared up at her nephew, looking every bit a solider in his army green uniform, covered in tactical body armour, he wore everything but the issued helmet. He must be boiling underneath all of that. "God, I can't believe you're actually here. I almost don't believe this is real." Thea said. She had long since stopped believing in miracles and divine intervention, but having her nephew standing in front of her once again despite the state of the world, it was almost enough to make a believer out of her again. Almost, but not quite.
"It's real, I'm here." Jackson told her, smiling slightly. He felt like weeks of wariness and sleepless night were finally catching up to him, settling in his bones. "We were trying to get to the house. But we can't get the humvee past the crash, figured we'd bunker down for the night and try to arch road in the morning." He told her, "What happened here?"
"The Dead happened." Thea told them, "They overwhelmed the town and people tried to flee, to many people panicked and chaos ensured, accidents happened." A shuffling behind Jackson and Mitchonne drew Thea's attention, she leaned to the side to look past the broad figure of her nephew, just in time to catch sight of three small children peered out from behind a upright pallet before they ducked back behind. "Who are the kids?"
"Ours, I guess." Jackson said as machine moved beak toward the pallets, crouching down to speak softly to the three children, "The boy's Michonne's and the two girls, we found them in North Carolina. Their parents didn't make it."
"You said you're a doctor." Michonne spoke up for the first time since the door had been opened, she turned to look at the other woman in the room as Andre crawled into her arms and the sisters shuffled out from behind the pallets and clung to her legs. "Was that true?"
"It is." Thea said, making and keeping eye contact with the dark skinned woman.
"Kayla has a fever." Michonne said, placing a hand on the youngest girls head, she could feel the heat and sweat of her skin against her palm. "Can you help her?"
Thea looked down to the girl and it was easy to deduce which one was Kayla, she was smaller then the other girl, perhaps four years old, with flushed skin and a sheen of sweat across her face, she clung to Michonne's jeans with a small trembling had and stared ahead with a faraway look in her eye. She didn't look well at all. "I can." Thea said, "I'll can take a look, but I don't have all my stuff with me. We may need to get her back to the manor before I can probably diagnose her."
Jackson nodded, "Well we were going that way anyways." He said, stepping aside and letting his aunt passed so she could see to the girl.