The Regulator (Complete First Draft)

Chapter 1: Brad - Reflection

There was no real reason for him to want to kill everyone in the entire world, but that is exactly what he was going to do. Every monster, at least. The normal people were fine, but every walking undead corpse had to go. From what Brad was hearing over the radio and via the internet, most of the world was like that, so if he had to kill every undead person in the world to make his world safe again, he’d willingly do it.

"It's getting cold out here." Brad said. He looked around at the surrounding trees, their leaves red and brown as they died.

"It's been getting colder for weeks. It's not summer anymore." Andrew said. He walked to the edge of the platform and scanned down the road, seeing nothing.

"We'll have to figure something out. Find some personal space heaters somewhere or something." Brad said, checking the other side of the road.

"Yeah, if they weren't all looted. Plus you really think the generators could run that sort of thing? A personal space heater in every cabin? I don't think we have that kind of fuel." Andrew said, concerned. Gas was already becoming a problem. They didn't need to keep using more of it.

"If we were just dealing with us, adults, having to survive at this camp I'd be fine with that. But we have kids to keep alive, they aren't gonna be as durable in the winter." Brad argued.

"Maybe you're right. But I don't see why we can't just find some heavier clothes and blankets and call it a day." Andrew responded.

Brad smiled and put his hand on Andrew's shoulder, "One day you'll understand going a little farther for your people is important. You said it yourself, you're going to protect those kids under your care. That goes beyond shooting all the shambling corpses you see. You have to look out for them in all areas not just one. Especially now, when they can't do it themselves."

"Shooting corpses isn't all bad, without me doing that you'd be dead, old man." Andrew laughed.

"Why the hell do you think I let you carry that gun around? It's not too look tough, I don't think anything could make you look tough." Brad grinned.

Andrew laughed, throwing friendly punches at each other was a nice break from the dreadful life they had been living. Scavenging for food, constantly building defenses from early in the morning to late at night, dealing with undead ghouls stumbling on to the camp before they could hurt anyone, all while trying to pretend the camp was still just a normal summer camp for the kids. Both Andrew and Brad knew it wasn't working anymore though. The kids were starting to see through the sham. They were starting to understand what was really going on.

“What’s the news report of the day?” Andrew asked. Brad spent most of his days in the office, using the still working internet and an old radio to keep up to date with the expanding undead situation.

“Not good. They’ve basically said New York is a dead zone and they’re pulling all resources out of there. Most of the north-east actually.”

“Really?”

“Apparently, the more north you go the safer it gets, but since the Southern and Western parts of the country apparently aren’t being hit as hard, they want to focus efforts there.”

“So we’re on our own.”
“We’re on our own.” Brad sighed, Andrew could literally feel the general mood get darker. “How much longer do you think we can keep it up?”

“My groups already starting to ask questions. Real questions. Not ‘Where are my parents?’ or ‘Why haven’t we gone home yet?’. They’re asking questions like ‘Why are dead people walking around?’, ‘Why’d they bite Mia?’, ‘Why’d you kill all those people in the barn?’. Andrew told Brad.

Brad swallowed hard, “They still ask about the Barn?”

“I don’t think anyones gonna forget that.” Andrew said quietly.

“We did what we had to do.” Brad said, his voice stern and commanding.

“You see... I just don’t know if that’s true.” Andrew responded. It got quiet, real quiet.

“We didn’t do anything wrong.” Brad said, once again sternly.

“You told everyone who was bit to wait for help in the barn. When they were all in there, men, women, and children, you locked the barn and refused to let them out...” Andrew said. A hint of disgust in his voice.

“What else would I have done?” Brad asked. His voice trembled just a little, he was losing.

“Tried to help them maybe? Instead you caged them up like animals and waited until they died. Then you lead me, and Nick, and Brandon, and all those guys in... and we cleaned up your dirty work.” Andrew said, angrily.

“What else would I have done? The news said there was nothing you could do for someone thats been bit and now we know that for sure. I did the best thing I could, you can’t be angry with me over that.” Brad said, his temper rising.

“I’m not angry with you because of what you did, I’m angry cause you refuse to acknowledge that you handled it wrong.” Andrew said, defiantly. The whole world seemed to grow quiet. Andrew and Brad stared at each other. Brad was in charge, Andrew was just one of his people. But he was a pusher, he didn’t stand by and let Brad lead without criticism. He pushed Brad, especially when Brad made a bad call.

“Do you regret what you did?” Brad asked.

“Everyday.” Andrew responded. Silence.

“Me too.” Brad followed up. “But I still think it was the only thing we could have done.”

Andrew stared at Brad for a bit, then turned and walked. “I needa go put my group to bed. You got the rest of this shift?”

Brad turned away from Andrew, sighing “Yeah.”

Andrew climbed down off the platform, walked down a long the rock wall, and passed under the big sign that read “Camp Fireside”.