Neo Soul King Yhwach

'Let it be known: I did not fall from grace. I leapt to freedom.' -Ansel Elkins.

[Third Person Pov, 1 day after the fall of the St. John Dairy]

Jake grumbled to himself as Gary left his tent. He had just given him a piece of horrible news. The dairy that they had been extorting food from for months had fallen. The farmers, who Jake secretly hoped he could bully into giving them more food, were most likely dead. That was a fucking problem.

Right now, he was angrily munching on some of the meat that the farmers had given them previously. It wasn't much, but he fucking deserved it after the news he had been given. Who knew that it would be this hard to just find people to steal off of?

Maybe I shouldn't have been so trigger-happy early on. Nah, fuck that. You showed those people who was boss, Jake. Don't act like a pussy now.

No, he did the right thing. Jake would just have to find someone else to extort from. But who would that be? He did have a lead on someone who could provide the supplies that they were looking for, but he would have to wait till Drew came back from his mission.

The worst part was that we couldn't even salvage anything from that fucking farm because the biters were all over the place. It was like they were having a party. I bet they're real fucking happy.

Jake threw the rest of his meal down on the floor. He wasn't in the mood to eat anymore. Maybe he just needed to go aside and clear his head. Save his anger for the people who were his enemies. Shaking his head, he donned his ski mask and walked outside the tent. Most of the bandits were lazily sitting around and chatting, Suddenly Jake heard someone yell out his name.

"Jake!" shouted a voice. He turned around and saw Linda walking towards him. Out of his entire crew, she might have been the only woman who ran with them. Jake had a reason for that. Linda wasn't just some skank that he had run across on his various raids.

"What the hell is going on? Gary tells me those farmers are dead."

"Yeah, those incompetent fucks couldn't even stay alive for us to kill them. They just had to go and attract all the biters to their property. I got Drew looking around for any other groups, but it's a long shot." Jake explained.

"There're always people around. They think the woods are unassuming. I'm sure there's someone we can put the squeeze on." reassured Linda.

"There better be! I can't convince these lazy sacks of shit to go find food on their own. If we don't find someone soon, then I'm gonna-"

"Hey, calm down." soothed Linda. She put a hand on Jake's shoulder.

"Why don't we go talk about this somewhere where there's a little more privacy?"

Jake usually didn't like people who ordered him around, but Linda had always been good to him even before the apocalypse. Usually, he would get on her case for acting soft, but he let it slide since he was the main beneficiary. I mean, it's not like he got that kind of treatment from his own mother.

Why the hell am I thinking about that bitch? She's been fucking dead for years! Let her rot.

Jake and Linda both went to a nearby tree and sat down. Most of the people in the camp weren't really paying attention to them. It was a blessing at a time like this when Jake just wanted to be left alone, leadership be damned. But the strong could not rest. They had to provide for the weak and make them strong so that they could continue the cycle.

A colony of ants always needs to listen to their king. That's just the order of things.

"Jake, you are the leader that this group needs. You know that. But your anger is a part of you that you need to fix. When you get angry, you make stupid decisions. Now, I have stood by and let you run off doing whatever. But you have to see the position your antics are putting us in." chastised Linda.

"What? You never had a problem with it before." retorted Jake.

"Haven't I always been good to you, Jake?" asked Linda. It was a rhetorical question.

Jake knew that Linda had pretty much saved his career at Save Lots. Growing up, he wasn't very smart and he wasn't very skilled at a lot of things. This, in turn, caused him to get bullied both at school and at work. Eventually, he got hired at Save Lots as a worker, but his job fucking sucked. The main cause of it was his verbally abusive boss, Charlie. Charlie was an educated city man and looked down on people like Jake, mocking him for his lot in life. Most of his fellow coworkers just stood by and did nothing, since they didn't want to gain Charlie's ire and get themselves fired.

Linda was different. She was a couple of years older than Jake, but she regularly stood up for him. If Jake got hurt, she would be there to talk him down and tell him to forget about it. If Jake wanted to go out and eat, she would drive him somewhere. If Jake was tired, she would do some of his work for him. Of course, Charlie didn't like this one bit and started antagonizing her just as much as Jake, but he gave up a lot of attention to Jake. It was the one reason Jake didn't make her a slave when he took over and even allowed her to join their ranks. To his surprise, Linda actually enjoyed the various sexual acts that they committed on their victims. It made it even easier to accept her as one of the boys.

"Yes, I know what you've done for me, Linda. How could I forget? You pretty much saved my life." mused Jake.

"You remember what we did with Charlie and his family when we took over?" asked Linda.

Jake smiled sadistically. How could he forget?

"Yes, I remember feeding Charlie's son to the walkers and making him watch as the flesh was torn off him. I remember forcing Charlie to watch as all of us fucked the shit out of his wife and daughter. Damn, I even remembered that you joined in and loved it."

"Well, it's the damn apocalypse. I don't gotta a lot of options if I'm hanging around you forest-riddled cunts. But don't you remember the best part?" asked Linda.

"YES!! THE BEST PART!! We...we cut off Charlie's arms and legs and made his family eat it or else they would starve. Of course, they didn't at first, but hunger talks. Then, we killed the mom after we had a bit more fun with her and locked her in a shed with her daughter still alive. During that whole thing, we let Charlie turn after… WE CUT HIS LIMBS OFF AND JUST LEFT HIM TO FUCKING ROT LIKE THE PIECE OF HUMAN TRASH THAT HE WAS!" yelled Jake.

The passion that he was known for was coming back, but he let it pass through him. Rather than burning him out, it was invigorating him. It was sustaining his thirst for violence.

"Do you feel better now, Jake?" asked Linda.

"Much better. I never thanked you for coming up with that plan. I mean, Jesus Christ, you make me look like a saint sometimes. How the fuck do you come up with this shit?" asked Jake.

"You weren't the only one who Charlie targeted. Before you got there, who do you think was his main victim? The only woman in the fucking store that didn't have half her teeth falling out. Payback was needed and it was served." smiled Linda.

Jake smiled back. It was nice to have someone that could be just as brutal as he was. Someone who understood him. Maybe that's why he was so biased towards Linda.

Does it even matter? I can like whoever I want. My house, my rules.

"I have another plan that I think you should consider," revealed Linda.

"What kind of plan?" asked Jake.

"When you find the next group of people, see what they're like. Look at how many they got and what they could have. We shouldn't just kill them immediately. I'm thinking we attack them once as a show of strength. Maybe kill a couple to really put that fear into them. Then, we negotiate and they'll give us whatever we want. If they don't do that, then we'll just have to kill more of them until they get the message." Linda explained.

Jake thought about it. It seemed like a good plan. Well, he figured Linda was smart and she usually knew what she was talking about so he'd take her word for it.

I mean, who likes thinking anyway? That shit is exhausting.

"What if they don't get the message?" asked Jake.

"Then you do what needs to be done. The group probably has a couple of women. If they do, take them and make use of them until the group brings the payment back. You know I don't care how young they are. After that, kill them or don't. It's your call." advised Linda.

It is my call. It's always my call.

"Okay. I'll put the word out once Drew finds someone."

[Scene Break Location: July 2003, Sometime Before The Apocalypse, Macon, Georgia]

Vince Rhee aimed his gun at the sniveling man in front of him. He was angry, very angry. It was more of a cold anger than one that was burning hot, but it was present nonetheless. The man that he was aiming his gun at continued to plead for his life.

"I already told you. I told you it wasn't me, man."

Vince didn't listen to the man's words for a second. He knew what this man had done. He was the one who had sold drugs to Vince's brother. He was the one who had fed his addiction by always making sure that his supply was plentiful. He was the one who contributed to his brother's inability to turn his life around. He was the one who caused his brother to OD on heroin a few weeks ago.

"I told you…like twenty times. Man, come on, I don't even…I don't even KNOW your brother." pleaded the man.

Liar.

All Vince saw was his brother's dead body, his mother crying when she heard the news, and the anger he felt when he learned how he died.

BAM!

The gunshot echoed through the room, cutting the man's pleading off forever. Silence settled in, broken only by the sound of Vince's breathing. As the mist from the shot cleared, it hit him—he'd just killed a man. Murdered him in cold blood.

Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.

Vince immediately ran out of the dude's house and onto the streets of Macon. He had to get away as fast as possible from the crime scene before anyone saw him there. After all, the dead man probably supplied heroin to a lot of different people. If nobody saw him, maybe the police would just think some junkie got angry that he didn't get as much as he wanted and killed the man in retaliation.

As Vince ran past the Everett drugstore, he started to hear the distant sound of police sirens. It seemed like the police had been tipped off faster than he would have thought.

"Oh, fuck!" yelled Vince.

Thinking quickly, Vince ran into a nearby alleyway. He realized that he still had the gun in his hand, and he needed to get rid of it, so the police couldn't trace the crime back to him. After all, he had bought it specifically for this mission. Looking down in the drains, he made the split-second decision to toss his gun down there.

Now I just have to get out of here.

As the sounds of police kept getting closer, Vince ran towards the other end of the alleyway as fast as he could. He had done everything possible to remove his presence from the crime, so there was no way he would be caught, right?

[Timeskip: 2 Days Later, Location: Road, En Route To Prison]

"Alright. Everyone get inside the bus, and no funny business." said the bus driver. Vince was one of the people that was being addressed by the bus driver. He certainly looked the part of a prisoner, clad in an orange jumpsuit with handcuffs attached. As he was ordered to sit down, he found that there was a Caucasian man sitting behind him and a Latino man sitting in front of him. The three of them were attached together with iron cuffs that were shackling their feet.

"Hey man, I'm Danny. What's your name?" asked the Latino one.

"It's Vince," replied Vince.

"I don't see why my name is important to you." responded the Caucasian man.

"Oh, come on, man. We're all criminals. How else are we going to pass the time besides getting to know each other a little bit? We might even be in the same cell block." explained Danny.

"Fine. My name is...Earl."

Danny just turned around and laughed. "No fucking way your parents named you Earl! Were you born in the '30s? How old are you, man?"

"Dude. Fuck off. Your name is NOT Earl." said Vince.

The Caucasian man just smiled. "Alright, my name is Justin. I just wanted to see how good your guys' bullshit detector was. Vince, that was pretty smooth. Danny, you could use some work."

"Whatever, Justin," said Danny. "If that even is your real name."

"It is my real name, dick," said Justin.

"Don't fucking touch me!" boomed a voice from the front. Vince looked to see another cop guiding a prisoner towards the front of the bus. The cop seemed to be a nervous Caucasian man who held a shotgun, and the prisoner was a big African-American man who looked very intimidating. The cop nervously held his shotgun and just told the man,

"Just sit down and don't cause any trouble!"

The prisoner seemed a bit amused by the guard's attempts to control him, but his amusement was gone as quickly as it appeared. His face mostly showed signs of irritation and barely concealed anger. Grumbling to himself, he followed the guard's instructions and sat down.

That guy definitely has a temper.

A scrawnier African-American man sat down in front of the aforementioned prisoner. The two of them were also locked together with chain link cuffs. The scrawny man turned around to look at the bigger man.

"You know, we're not at the prison yet. You don't have to act like this big sitting chief asshole. Just chill out, man."

"Fuck you. Who are you, my mother?" retorted the bigger man.

"And what are your names?" asked Danny.

"It's Jerry." said the scrawnier man.

"I'm Marcus. What's it to you?" asked Marcus looking in Danny's direction.

"I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought we should all introduce ourselves since we're going to the same prison. You know, to cool the tension." explained Danny.

"What are you guys in for?" asked Vince.

"Armed Robbery. I was part of a crew of guys who robbed one of the biggest savings banks in downtown Atlanta. We would have gotten away with it too, but someone got pinched and snitched on the robbery. In the end, my crew decided to portray me like I was the ringleader, and I got the heaviest sentence out of all of them. I hope to God I never see those sons of bitches again." stated Jerry.

Marcus just chuckled darkly. "What was I in for? What wasn't I in for? Murder, drug possession, breaking and entering, assault. You name it, I did it. Managed to kill about 42 motherfuckers, before they got me and probably caused others to go crazy on drugs, but it was fucking worth it."

Everyone inside the bus just stared at Marcus for a few moments, before Justin replied. "...Okay, then. I'll leave you to your thoughts."

"Yeah. You do that if you know what's good for you," warned Marcus.

As the prison bus started, the bus driver and the officer sat in the front while the 5 prisoners all sat in the back. Danny and Justin started talking to each other about their lives and the crimes that they had committed. Vince didn't really feel like participating in the conversation, so he just looked out the window. They passed hundreds of people who were either walking outside or driving in their own cars. People who were having a good time and were free from the respective shackles that now chained Vince.

Freedom. I'll never know what that's like.

The gun that Vince had taken great care to dispose of had been found the next day. The crime had been traced back to Vince and he was charged with first-degree murder, which in Georgia meant life in prison. He heard bits and pieces of the conversation around him. Justin was some type of white-collar criminal, while Danny was a fucking rapist. The guy professed his innocence, but Vince thought his explanation was bullshit. He had to have known how old that girl was, right?

Eventually, the bus stopped moving. It had been caught up in a traffic jam and the occupants of the bus were forced to endure the sticky Georgia heat as the bus slowly inched its way forward. One minute turned to two, then three, then 120. 2 full hours had passed, and everyone was starting to get irritated.

The radio in front started playing something about a situation going down, but the bus driver turned it off.

"Can't listen to this crap anymore."

"Think it'll clear up soon?" asked the other police officer.

"What am I, the traffic man?" retorted the bus driver. "We were supposed to be at the pen an hour ago. I'm going to get written up for this."

Danny had taken it upon himself to have a little fun with Justin and Vince. He started moving his leg forward, which yanked the chain link cuffs holding all their feet together. This in turn meant that both Vince and Justin had their right legs yanked forward as well.

"What the hell, man?" asked Justin.

Danny just played dumb and asked, "What?"

"You know—" replied Justin, who yanked the chains back toward his direction to prove a point. "Cut it out."

"Jesus, you guys," said Vince, shaking his head.

"You gonna make me?" asked Danny.

"Yeah," replied Justin.

"Hey, Vince. Justin's gonna make me," stated Danny.

"It's too hot for this shit," muttered Justin.

"Vince, I'm making him hot now," said Danny gleefully.

Justin just smirked and said "Yeah, Danny. You're making me hot."

"Yeah. I got that Latin heat you can't resist! Come here, boy!" shouted Danny.

"You guys ever going to quit?" asked Vince. He was getting sick and tired of their back-and-forth arguments. The heat was not helping at all.

"How else are we going to pass the time?" questioned Danny.

"Hey, man. Can you open a fucking window?" asked Jerry.

"It's a prison bus, asshole. The windows don't open," replied Marcus. They seemed to start getting into a heated conversation, but Vince was distracted by Danny speaking.

"Hey, Justin. Did you see that guy in the beat-up truck? I bet he lives in that truck now. You probably got his whole house. Life savings." Danny turned back around to face Justin. "Shit, I bet you stole his dog. You steal his dog, man?"

"I wasn't stealing from guys like that." clarified Justin. He looked at Danny and smirked. "Anyway, it's better than stealing his virginity."

Danny looked genuinely offended as he turned back around to meet Justin. "Hey, how many times I gotta tell you?"

"Here we go." sighed Justin.

"Seriously! I was falsely accused!" professed Danny.

"How old was she? 15?" asked Justin.

"Dammit, it ain't like that!"

"You're telling me there wasn't a star witness waiting around in your white van? I'm shocked."

"We're all in the same boat, man. Whatever we did, we're all going to the same prison. What's the point of arguing?" asked Vince.

"The point is, I'm not like that." retorted Danny.

Danny just sighed, before looking back at Vince and Justin with a sorrowful expression. "Tell you what, guys, and I ain't afraid to say this. I'm REALLY missing my girlfriend right now."

"I'm guessing she's pretty pissed at you," said Justin.

"It's worse than that, man. She won't talk to me. I haven't heard her voice in months. It's really messing with me, man. For real." explained Danny.

"Just let it go, man," said Justin.

"I want to, but, you know...I love her, man," responded Danny.

Great. Now I have to soothe Danny, just so he stops killing the mood.

"You should call her when we get to the prison. You have to face that shit," said Vince.

"I will. First call I get," replied Danny.

"Danny, I know you don't realize this because you're you, but you probably ruined that poor girl's life, you piece of shit." berated Justin.

"Big talk from White Collar back there. How many lives have you wrecked, kid?" challenged Justin.

Justin didn't have a response to that, so he just stared out the window and muttered "Who cares?"

"It's hotter than hell up in here. I'm getting dehydrated. Aye, how about some water back here?" asked Jerry.

"Shut up back there. I won't ask you again." said the police officer.

Vince turned back to Justin and said, "I heard you took the stand and cried your eyes out. Didn't you lose your shit and tell them you didn't know what you were doing?"

"I lied. Turns out I'm good at that," revealed Justin smugly. He seemed to be particularly proud of the fact that he could lie so easily.

"You lied on the stand?" questioned Danny. "See, that's the kind of shit I could never do."

"Religious?" asked Justin.

"Nah, man."

"Watched a lot of cop shows?"

"Nope."

"What, then?"

"It just ain't right," stated Danny.

"Oh, give me a break," said Justin dramatically.

Lying in a situation that you're already caught in is pretty weak, but why not take the chance to be smart and hack off some years off your sentence?

Vince didn't have that luxury with his own trial. It was a pretty open-and-shut case, especially once they made the connection between Vince's brother and the victim. He supposed he could have lied and said he didn't mean to shoot him, but he doubted it would have changed anything.

"It's a tough call," said Vince.

"Why do more time than you need to?" asked Justin.

"Gotta stay clean, man," replied Danny.

"Says the criminal." retorted Justin.

"You want to know the funny thing? I don't regret any of it. I carried my "victims" for YEARS; they knew what they were getting into. And now here I am, and there they are, and Wall Street assholes pulling the same scores are smiling on TV. Fuck. That."

"Fuck Wall Street," said Vince.

"Fuck Wall Street," replied Danny.

"Fuck Wall Street." finished Justin.

"So, what kind of con did you pull off?" inquired Vince.

"It was like a pyramid scheme," answered Justin.

"Aren't those like kind of shit?" asked Danny.

"This was some pretty elaborate shit," stated Justin.

"Elaborate shit is still shit." retorted Danny.

"Not when you make off with a little over a hundred. Million," answered Justin.

"Goddamn, boy! When we get outta here, you, me, and Vince, we gotta go into business, you know what I'm saying?" stated Danny.

"Don't really think there's a chance of me getting out of jail," said Vince in a slightly somber tone.

"What did you do? You touch a kid or something?" asked Justin.

"No, you fuckhead. I...killed someone for my brother. They couldn't really pin it down to second-degree, so I ended up getting a murder charge for it. Apparently, that means life in prison, so I'm pretty much fucked." explained Vince. 

He wasn't technically lying. He killed a man who was apparently extorting his little brother out of money. His little brother was already struggling with money and the asshole who was extorting him out of money wasn't making his situation easier. Having decided to take matters into his own hands, Vince broke into the asshole's house and murdered him in cold blood.

"They send you to prison for that, now?" Justin asked.

"He was in trouble. I had to...help him out." Vince explained.

"I knew it was something stupid," Justin stated.

"You regret it, man?" Danny asked, ignoring Justin, "If you're saying what I think you are, I got respect for you, man. But that's a hard thing to carry, you know?

"I don't regret it at all. Sometimes, you gotta do the hard thing." Vince gave him an honest answer. It was true. He didn't regret it. He did not regret helping his brother and definitely didn't regret killing some asshole loan shark.

Justin nodded in understanding, feeling like he could relate to it, "Yeah, I know what you mean, man."

"How'd they get you?" Danny asked out of curiosity.

"Ditched the gun in a drain," Vince responded.

"And?" Justin asked.

"I guess it was clogged up with leaves. A street cleaner found it the next damn day." Vince replied.

"You gotta be kidding me. Man, you're bad luck, Vince. 'Bad Luck Vince'. Ha, that's not bad. What do you think, Justin?" asked Danny.

Justin was about to reply before the argument on the other end of the prison bus erupted.

"What the fuck are you going to do about it?" demanded Jerry.

"FUCK YOU!" yelled Marcus.

"Fuck me? Fuck you, motherfucker!" antagonized Jerry. That seemed like it was the last straw for Marcus, as he stood up and started to choke Jerry out with his cuffs.

"Oh shit!" yelled Danny.

The officer saw what was going on, and stood up while shouting, "Crabtree, knock it off!"

"Let him go, man!" yelled Vince. Marcus was undeterred and continued to strangle Jerry. The officer continued to demand that Marcus let Jerry go, but he made no moves to get back there and break the scuffle up.

Danny turned back and shouted, "He's going to kill him, Vince!"

Justin had different ideas on how to proceed with the situation. "Let the guard handle it, guys."

"Fuck that, we gotta get in there!" emphasized Danny.

"You do not want to get in the middle of that shit, Danny," stated Justin.

"Vince, you're the tough guy. We gotta get in there, right?" asked Danny.

Vince thought about his options. He could either listen to what Justin said or let the guard handle it. There was no need to get themselves hurt or worse just to save a guy they barely knew. If anything, isn't that what the officer's job was? But the guard seemed to be pretty nervous and hesitant to get back there and break up the fight. Vince didn't exactly have faith in the guy to solve things in a peaceful way.

On the other hand, he could listen to Danny and try to convince Marcus to stop killing Jerry. They couldn't get in there directly, but a little persuasion could go a long way toward calming Marcus down. Sometimes, you can't always trust the police.

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What should [M] Vince do?

A) Let the officer handle it

B) Take matters into your own hands

C) Nothing

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Relationships [M] (Vince Rhee):

Justin: 5/15

He doesn't want to get in the middle of the fight.

Danny: 5/15

He wants to try and help break up the fight.

Jerry: 5/15

He just wants someone to save him from getting choked out.

Marcus: 4/15

He's annoyed by your presence (and everyone else) and has had enough of Jerry's constant complaining.

The officer: 5/15

He's not making a move to break up the fight, and he seems pretty nervous.

The bus driver: 5/15

He wants the officer to go break it up.

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Group Stats:

You don't really have a group yet.