User blog:TheOneWithTheGoldenGiraffe/The Walking Dead - Dead End FF

Starring
Blondetta as Alison DiWinters

Villain fan as Benjamin Peters

Plot
"I should have stayed in Philadelphia," Alison sniggered to herself. She shifted in her seat and pulled irritably at her stockings, which served only to trap the sweat and humidity from the Southern heat in places where nobody wanted it. She had kicked off her shoes and tossed her jacket in the back seat the moment they got in the car, but the blouse, pink short shirt and stockings were clearly a poor wardrobe choice for a road trip to Georgia.

"I hate the freaking South. Have I told you how much I hate the South?" She grumbled as she twisted her blonde hair into a knot.

She glanced to the side at the man driving their rented Land Rover, just in time to see him roll his eyes and shake his head. She had been complaining about the heat since they landed in Columbia, South Carolina, and it didn't help that the temperature seemed to rise at least fifteen degrees the moment they crossed the state line. The heat didn't seem to be an issue for Benjamin Peters. His dark hair was thick and curly.

"Welcome to Georgia," Benjamin read aloud from the flowery sign on the state line. He flashed Alison a wide smile. She lit up a cigarette, not bothering to roll the window down.

"Whatever," she said. "It just means more country music, cheap beer and cowboys with crap on their boots. Maybe if we trade this bucket in for something with air conditioning that actually works, I might feel a little more - Benji, what the hell are you doing?" She looked over to him, hesitantly.

"I'm rolling the window down."

"For christ sake, roll it back up! Have you seen the size of the bugs around here?"

"You said you were hot."

"I said the air conditioning sucks, I didn't say I wanted you to invite every six-legged thing into this car!"

"The car's getting smoky."

"So what?"

"It bothers me."

"Well, I need to smoke. Unless you want me to turn into a massive raving bitch before we get anywhere near Atlanta."

"Too late," Benji responded flatly, and compromised by rolling the window quarter of the way up.

Alison made a point of taking a couple more long drags from her thin cigarette, then rolled her own window down and threw the butt out of the window.

"Happy now?" she closed the window and started digging in her Chanel bag for her Blackberry.

"That's how forest fires get started, you know."

"There's no forest here. See the dirt?"

"Brush fire, then."

"Screw you"

"I hate working with you."

"Whatever. How did we land this assignment, anyway? Did I seriously volunteer to cover a country music concert thing?" Benji chuckled as she said this.

"Yeah, you did. And it's not a concert thing, it's for a good cause. Country for the Thirsty, remember? Country music stars, outdoor music festival. It's Woodstock, baby. Don't you remember the sixties?"

"I was born in the seventies," Despite her bitter mood, Alison found herself smiling slightly at the image Benji's description brought to mind. Happy hippies and beautiful freaks.

Alison DiWinters, investigative reporter and freelance journalist, with her trusty cameraman and occasionally loyal sidekick Benjamin Peters at her side. Together they venture forth into foreign territory.

"Holy shit!" Benji stomped on the brakes hard with his feet, sending Alison and her Blackberry flying forward into the dashboard. The Land Rover's tires screeched and the back end veered wildly as Alison planted both hands on the dashboard and pushed herself back to stare through the window at the man standing in the middle of the road. And a split second later the Land Rover slammed into him.

She heard herself scream as he bounced over the hood and his face hit the window right in front of her, leaving a scarlet red stain. He then rolled over, tumbling harshly off the left side of the hood. Benji yanked the wheel hard to the right to avoid hitting him again, and the Rover finally came to a stop at the side of the road.

"Holy shit," Behjamin said again, and turned to look at Alison with eyes wide like a doe.

"We just hit that guy," Alison said coldly, but Benji was already out of the driver's side door and running the one-hundred-fifty feet distance to the broken mess in the road behind them. "Call 911," he shouted back over his shoulder to Alison.

"911," Alison repeated. "Right." She bent down and picked up the pieces of her Blackberry, and spent a few seconds trying to put it together with fingers, shaking uncontrollably. She heard Benji calling out to the man in the road, trying to wake him.

"Dammit," she hissed, and tossed the Blackberry back on the floor. She fumbled with the door handle with her left hand, not realising that she'd broken three of her fingers on the dashboard, and finally yanked the door open with her right.

"Please tell me he's alive," she said as she half-ran and half-limped up to where Benji stood looking down at the man in the road. She stopped short at the sight of him, grabbing hold of Benji's arm to stop herself from falling over.

They both stood in silence for a moment, looking down at the mangled man in the road. Both of his legs were broken, crushed and twisted at awkward angles. His right arm bent the wrong way at the elbow, and his face did not resemble anything human.

"What the hell happened to him?" Benji finally managed.

"We hit him with our car! What the hell do you think happened to him?"

"No, I mean, look at him. He looks... ill." Alison looked again, and forced herself to quickly examine the man's broken face. The skin that could be seen through the blood was grey, and open sores showed on his neck. His eye were both bloodshot and yellow. Blood seemed to have pooled inside his mouth, and the tip of a black tongue came out from his mouth.

"Ok," she swallowed again, watching closely for any signs of life. No breath and no movement. The man was clearly very dead. "We still hit him! My phone's broken. Where's yours?" Alison stepped back as she realized that the smell in the air appeared to be coming from the dead man in the road. It was as if he'd been dead and rotting for a long time already, which was only odd because he'd been standing up five minutes ago.

"It's in my bag," Benji gestured back toward the Rover. "In the bac." He crouched down next to the motionless body as Alison backed away a few steps, then turned and raced back to the car. As she finished the short distance, she realised that they hadn't seen another car in the last hour, which seemed odd.

"I hate the South. I should have stayed in Philadelphia." She found the iPhone and pulled it out. She had just unlocked it and observed the no signal reading when she heard Benji shout in panic, and the shout turned into a scream. She looked out of the window in time to see Benji launching himself to his feet and kicking the seemingly dead man on the ground once before hurrying away.

"What are you doing?" Alison shouted, fumbling out of the car again and running back towards them. "Benji, what is going - oh my god..." She stopped so fast she nearly fell, grabbing Benji's arm and staring as the "dead" man seemed to get up off the ground. Failing at standing up, the man started to push towards them in a crawl.

Benji and Alison took several steps back. Defying all laws of reality, the man opened his blackened, bloody mouth and snarled. Thick, dark blood ran out of his mouth and dripped to the pavement below to form a puddle. Alison froze, unable to move as the man reached out with his arm and grabbed her ankle.

Benji grabbed Alison's arm, and seconds later they were climbing back in the Rover through the driver's side. Benji locked the doors and they turned to stare through the window at the horror that continued to crawl towards them, spitting black blood and leaving a trail of blood on the road behind him.

"What is going on?" Alison breathed heavily.

"I was trying to check his pulse," Benji sighed. He stopped speaking and watched the man as he came closer. "Did he have a pulse?" Alison asked. Benji turned and started the engine, then sped away with an echoing screech.

"Peter, what happened?" Alison screamed, worriedly.

"He tried to bite me."

THE END

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