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Casa Madruga is destroyed but empty of any Undead which doesn’t ease anyone. John leads the way in, making sure Jack doesn’t wander off behind him while keeping a hand close to his gun just in case. You never these days what would attack you anymore.
A figure on the balcony caught his attention when it came out of one of the rooms; Landon Ricketts. Not surprising that this guy managed to survive.
“Marston, long time no see.”
“Ricketts.”
Jack nudged his arm though never taking his eyes off of Ricketts; “Who’s he?”
“Landon Ricketts, an old legend that helped me out.”
John wouldn’t have been able to get as far as he did without Ricketts’ help. If they want to figure out why this is happening, and maybe how to stop it, they would need his help again. However, it’s hard to say what’s actually causing this due to the conflicting answers that John keeps getting from everyone.
“Come on.” John moves his son in front and gently pushes him towards the stairs to head up to meet Ricketts on the second floor. Jack kept close; eyes shifting to take in the area, making sure there was no Undead or anything else that could jump them. “You mentioned something about a horse on fire earlier?”
“Uh, yeah?” Jack looks confused. “It was not far out from McFarlane, spotted it when we were leaving. It wasn’t like those Undead horses that are roaming around.”
The Undead animals are quite freaky; Bonnie has been trying to figure out if their cows are still safe or not but hasn’t concluded quite yet. Undead cougars are the worst out of the bunch though; at least the bears are noticeable and the wolves make some kind of noise.
“It almost seems to be following us.”
“Following us?”
Jack nods; “similar to that other horse up in Tall Trees, quite sickly looking. I only saw it just out of view but it was there. It was when you got hurt but I figured it was just my imagination.”
It’s hard to chalk anything up to the imagination anymore. Maybe in the beginning when things are new and unknown but after months of travelling, shooting, and surviving, nothing is just the imagination anymore. John wonders what else is real in Jack’s book.
“Maybe we should keep an eye out, just in case.”
You never know what is friendly in this world anymore.
Though it was never easy in the first place.
“What brings you out here, Marston?” Ricketts questions, motioning for John and Jack to take a seat across from him. “I’m assuming it’s not a stopping in to say hello or anything.”
“No, actually we’re here because we’re trying to fix things.” John allows Jack to take a seat first before following, making sure that he blocks his son from the view on the stairs. “Though rumours can only get you so far.”
“And who is this?” Ricketts nods toward Jack. “Is this your boy you mentioned?”
“Yeah, Jack Marston.”
John doesn’t understand why introducing Jack right now is important. However, he found himself not introducing Jack all that often since finding out about the whole immune thing. If he could learn about it then others can as well.
“Well Jack, how about you get us some coffee from the kitchen.” Ricketts gestures vaguely in the direction that he needs to go. “I’ll take it black but I think there’s stuff to add if your Pops and you want.”
Jack looks to John, who gives a nod, before leaving the conversation.
Ricketts leans back into his chair; “I think we can help one another, Marston.”
“Name your price, Ricketts.”
…
Jack brought back two mugs of coffee and set them down in front of both people. He went to lean against the railing since he was not welcome in their conversation, which doesn’t make sense since Jack have been helping his dad out this whole time and now he doesn’t want Jack involved.
It only took his Dad four sips to notice something off with his coffee.
“Did you put in sugar or salt?”
His pa looks over at Jack with a questioning look and Jack just shrugs.
“The bags look the same, how should I have known?”
His Dad thanks Ricketts for whatever they talked about and gets up from the table; guiding Jack back down the stairs and towards the horses. It wasn’t until they were halfway across the yard did his Dad said anything.
“I got us a lead on how to fix things but we might need to look into your theory about the horses.”
“You said my theory was stupid,” Jack points out.
“Well, we’re running low on solutions.”
With that, the Marston boys are back on the road to solve this mystery.