Tam Ferris's Story

November 11th 0900pm

The past month and a half had raced by faster than Tam could keep up with. Jane was doing her best to hold the Vanners together, and much to no one's surprise, the tension was reaching an apex which looked like no one was going to be able to come back from. The last few days the Runners had managed to accrue themselves a hefty stash of supplies so it seemed for the moment any hostilities among the group itself were at ease while the Vanners were assured of survival for at least another month.

Survival... Tam scoffed at his own internal conversation. What did that even mean nowadays? As the stars shone a dull luminescence across the camp park, Tam turned to face the road and sat down on a camp chair positioned on top of one the blockading caravans of the camp. He had a megaphone at his side and scanned the dully lit streets for signs of danger while pondering his situation of late. Was this surviving? Living on the edge of starvation and exhaustion? Or was this just some sort of prolonged death? Like a cancer that was riddling the world. Tam shook his head and lit up his last cigarette - he'd have to make a note to look for me when he ran next.

Tam returned his thoughts to the past few weeks, what had happened, what was happening. Tim's death was of no great deal to himself personally. Sure the guy had been stand up, selfless even. But the fool had had to make sure that the camp was never without and couldn't ever bring himself to kill anything. Tam shook his head and sighed. His death was still something the Vanners couldn't afford and that was enough to make him angry, especially since it seemed it was an uneasy truth that there had been another group aside from the already established around the district moving about... A group that seemed to kill and ask questions later. Tam gritted his teeth, he wasn't so convinced as Jane was that Haven was as squeaky clean as they pretended to be, but still, apparently there was proof they weren't the fucking murderers running around. Tam had even, to be safe, suggested to Jane they make contact with the Rands, but she quickly shot that down.. Why? Because they seemed unstable to her. But to Tam, every fucking person nowadays was unstable in some form or another... All Tam knew was that he wasn't going to go out like Tim did, and on the principal of the matter, he'd get some form of vindication for Tim.

0930pm

Tam was nodding on and off already. It had been nearly sixteen hours since he last slept, but he was proud and wasn't going to let his duties slip. His head lulled for a second time and suddenly he was forced awake by the piercing scream of one of the girls on the other side of the camp... No, not just any scream - Jane's.

Tam was on his feet in a split second and suddenly had to pause as his eyes adjusted to the subtle light of the night sky. Another scream echoed from the Caravan Park, this time from closer to Tam's position. Then more screams and suddenly the camp was filled with an uproar of yelling and horrified survivors. Tam began to focus on the screams around the park and then Jane's voice called out across the growing raucous.

"We've been compromised! Dead's in the camp! I repeat... DEAD'S IN THE CAMP!"

That was enough to send Tam into full swing. He grabbed his megaphone and pulled it to his mouth, taking a deep breath before repeating Jane's own words.

"Get your weapons and start defending Lads and Lasses! We're in trouble!"

Tam picked up his own makeshift spear from next to his seat and looked down to the street, more zombies were being drawn in. What the fuck had happened? Tam jumped from the caravan and landed into an ungraceful and unbalanced roll, slightly winding himself. Getting to his feet, he was met by a frenzied Jennings who looked sick to his stomach,

"They came in through the back of the camp Tam! Someone didn't seal the back entrance properly... they've broken through the fucking fence! There's no way to stop them!"

Jennings fell to his knees crying. Tam not wasting any time picked the man back up by his collar.

"How many? twenty? More?"

"About fifteen Tam... But they're recently turned! Running at everyone!"

"Fucken' hell. Right, they might be fast, but fifteen aint much. You take Andrew and Charlene and get to the top of the front barricade and make sure the ones massing on the other side don't get in.. if they do on that front... We are fucked."

Tam gave Jennings a stern look and the man nodded in acknowledgement and left Tam, screaming for Charlene and Ronnie. Tam rolled his shoulders back and took off towards the other side of the camp towards the uproar. As he rounded a caravan Tam was met with a raging war between persistent unbroken monsters and about six Vanners trying to defend the back entrance. Nearly the whole back fortification had been destroyed. Tam couldn't begin to understand how they managed to get in exactly, but that was a problem for later.

"Thank christ!" Jane Meadows suddenly called out.

Tam looked to his right and saw the woman with another group of about six behind her. She'd rallied enough to make the fight closer to even,

"Get your shit together everyone! And watch their fuckin' teeth!"

0300am

It was a long and drawn out fight for the Vanners. It seemed like every undead they dispatched, another would show up. Tam had guessed the din of the camp had just started attracting every fucker that could hear within distance to them. For every one someone killed, it seemed like another one was right behind them to replace them. It only lasted a few hours, but the Vanners had been in a struggle for the most of it, luckily having only one runner get bitten. The horde had been more than exhausting and trying. All those who were fighting to keep the camp from becoming a waste were more than finished and tired by the time the horde thinned to nothing. It was in the early hours of the morning that a heavy cloud of rain had started falling too. Almost all visibility was shot, but when everyone seemed burnt out it had also seemed they'd won for the moment in surviving. Tam rested against a nearby caravan as everyone collapsed to the ground trying to regroup. Suddenly Jennings was at his side.

"Tam, you seen Jane? We got some problems she needs to know about."

Tam looked to Benson and rolled his eyes,

"What now?"

"It's something that Jane really needs to hear. Y'know, leadership stuff..."

"Christ Benson. Last I saw, she was running to the admin building..."

"What? In the middle of all that? What for..."

"The fuck do I know? Just go tell 'er what'er you gotta tell 'er you git."

Jennings stood up and could visibly be seen gritting his teeth. But the man didn't hang around to lecture Tam on his etiquette and set off towards the park's admin building. It was only a few minutes later suddenly Jennings was calling out for Tam again. Tam rolled his eyes and shook his head. Apparently Jane wasn't good enough for whatever information he had. Tam got to his feet and glanced over the tired looking survivors, who all now looked nervous as Jennings began reciting Tam's name again and again, now with fear in his voice.

"Alright ladies and gents. Pick your shit up and start on look out. We won't be able to fix this mess up til first light. I wish you could rest, but we ain't got that luxury. I'll get Jane back here in a minute and we go from there ok?"

The surviving Vanners all nodded wearily and Tam set off towards the admin building, the headquarters of sorts for the Vanners at the moment since Jane volunteered her van as a blockade. Tam worked his way through the camp and spied the nervous onlookers gathering in the sort of centre of the encampment. They all looked scared and worried, as though something worse than the defenses being broken had happened. Tam suddenly was met by a teary eyed Jennings from the crowd.

"IN HERE! Jesus Tam... Somethin' ain't right..."

Jennings led Tam to the admin building and stopped just at the door, looking to Tam nervously.

"Look.. it's barred up..."

"Well, unbar it then"

Tam looked to Jennings with a look of disdain and incompetence towards the man. How Jane had picked runners at times was something that made Tam worried. Especially in regards to Jennings who seemed to be running back and forth between cognitive and stupid since the recent meetings with the Haven Scavs, it was like the man was loosing the plot.

"Listen Tam.."

Suddenly a loud bang hit the other side of the door. Then another thud and another. Tam felt his teeth grit as he realised the complications of the situation. Another bang and Tam looked behind him to the rest of the surviving Vanners who weren't currently protecting the broken perimeter as they gathered behind him.

"Everyone get back. This ain't gonna be pretty..."

0600am

The sun was finally rising when Tam allowed himself a rest. Sitting behind the desk of the main office in the admin building, Tam scrunched his noise in disdain as the coagulated coppery smell of stale blood perverted the room. The middle of the Camp park was filled with the surviving Vanners who were trying to anticipate what their next move was going to be... There were no desirable options and morale was more than gone at that point.

Tam breathed deep, rising to his feet, he stepped over the corpse of Jane Meadows, now mangled by teeth marks and a skull filled with a makeshift spear. He moved into the reception room and over the second corpse - the one that had been trapped in the office with Jane, ultimately, the corpse that was her downfall. Tam closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose and he stepped out into the crisp morning light, greeted by a sudden uproar of yelling and questions.

"What happens now?"

"Will we have to leave?"

"We're going to have to separate! Aren't we?"

"What happened to Jane!?"

"Everybody just cool it!" Tam shouted.

The campsite went quiet and Tam brushed a hand through his hair. He sighed again, opening his eyes and adjusting to the dawning light. The camp grounds were in much more disarray than originally visible during the night. Clothes, blunt weapons, blood... They all littered the ground. The frenzy and confusion had caused people to gather, drop and take things all over the place in the panic. Corpses littered corners of the grounds, but mainly an unceremonious pile littered the broken perimeter where about five Vanners still kept guard while the rest decided on what to do.

"Alright, alright... Just give me a moment.."

"What do we do!?" Jennings then asked tentatively.

Suddenly it was Annie, one of the runners who had initially sided with Sam, the woman who accused Haven of killing Tim, who now spoke up.

"For god's sake Jennings. Pull your damned head in. And all of you too. We're ok for the moment so let the man breath..."

"Why are you all looking to me?" Tam said suddenly. "Why do you want to know what to do from me?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment. Looking back and forth, it was hard for anyone to voice an opinion, or more appropriately to convey what they were all thinking at the time. It was Annie who spoke up again,

"Because you idiot. Who else is going to lead us!? We all know she's dead Tam... The question is, why and what are we going to do now she's gone. We've all been talking, and none of us think we can do the job. Granted some of us thought Jane was blowing smoke out of her arse at times... We can't deny we can't all run this show together at the moment. You're the only other person among us who has the cool to help us along the way..."

Tam rolled his eyes and looked to the crowd of about twenty before him. He shook his head and looked to the ground, running his hand across his beard. Tam tried to convey that he didn't want the role. Everyone just continued to stare. Everyone just kept staring, unnerved... waiting for a response. It wasn't entirely unexpected. But the fact of the matter was that the responsibility was given to Tam without their thinking too much about it. Tam sighed and shook his head again.

"Alright... Alright. I'll do it. But only for now!"

Tam looked to everyone again who seemed to have sighed a collective breath of relief.

"First things first. We gotta get our shit together. Everyone start cleaning up this mess, we got a long way to go today before we can feel safe. God knows too it's gotta be done by sundown."

Tam turned on his heel, pinching the bridge of his nose again before deciding on what needed to be done next...

Job.

Haven a rough day: Collaboration

Location: The Old Primary School by the Lake.

Look, I ain't gonna lie to you... We're up shit creek without so much as our hands to bail us out. I know it's a lot ter ask of you right now. Consideren' you probably helped defend the camp last night... But life ain't fair and we got fucked like a Glasgow hooker back in the 1800's. It's time to pull our pants up. I need two of you to go meet a Scav from Haven by the ol' primary school down by the lake nearby. I got into communicado with Haven and explained to them our shituation. They've been kind enough to lend us a drill, and a few building supplies to help us make sure we don't have a repeat of last night again. It's a pretty straight forward job and I tried my best to get you out of heavily infected zones.. But I'm only going by what the Lass in Haven has told me is safe. All of Jane's intel on the Lake District was destroyed last night when she was... Anyway. I asked for light weight supplies, nothing too heavy, so it should just be a drill, screws and a few other things we'll need. After you get those, just get your tail back here. And for god's sake. Be fuckin' careful.

Job.

Gettin' our shit back together: Collaboration

Location: The Old Mill three miles North of the Camp.

I ain't gonna lie to ya. We had a new arsehole torn for us last night. We need to play doctor today and make sure the proverbial doesn't hit the fan again. Lucky for us there's a mill about three miles north of here. It's secluded enough I think that it should be infected free... That being said, I think the horde from last night came from the North. But tough luck is tough luck. I need two of you to get together and bring us back either sheets of iron or a nice stash of wood. It ain't gonna be easy but the best part about this task is, coming back is all down hill. Chances are there ain't gonna be a working car around these parts at all. But if there's even a truck that you can fill up with the supplies and then coast the downhill back here... Well, i'll bare me arse and call you all the saviours. But really the bottom line is... I need two of you to get us some supplies so we can assure we ain't looking at becoming course two tonight. Good luck.