Andy Brookes

Yes, Oliver had been so brave and while Renee was proud that her oldest had stepped up like he had, she felt guilty that he felt like he needed to. She saw a lot of what she had to do when she was growing up with her sisters and she had vowed to try and avoid making her kids go through that. Of course, she wasn't banking on a zombie apocalypse, but still, she wanted Oliver to not have to worry about his baby brother. But no matter how much she tried, it seemed Oliver was determined to look out for Henry. It was sweet but she hoped that he was doing it because he wanted to, not because he felt like he needed to.

"I'm okay." He answered, only partially lying. Physically he had no doubt he would recover. Even though it was a bad habit for physicians to diagnose themselves when needing care, Andy couldn't help it. He considered himself lucky his wounds weren't worse and he had received medical attention as quickly as one could expect in these times. He just needed a couple days' rest and he'd be fine, he told himself.

When he mentioned he was looking for his family, Jake's heart gave a achy skipped beat. It was a reminder how lucky he had been through all of this shit show of an apocalypse. So many people had lost their families but Jake had gained his. He wasn't going to start boasting about this to Andrei though.

"We might be able to help with that, finding your family I mean," Jake said, trying to walk the line between reassuring Andrei and mistakenly giving him false hope. "Not guarantees though, man. People back home are good but I can't make promises on their behalves. But I'm pretty certain they'll help if they can. I mean, they took me and my kids in when they didn't have to. I've only been with them a few months but they've already done more for me and mine than I could've hoped for."

Despite his own paranoia, Andy was finding it more and more difficult to keep up the usually icy demeanor that had served him so well in the years since society's collapse. Empathy was, after all, often a foundational piece of those who had dedicated their lives to being healers and maintaining a cold, aggressively closed off persona was exhausting in and of itself.

"They killed the group I was travelling with." Slowly but surely, Andy was finding his way through the fog that had clouded his mind. Yes, if he turned his head too quickly his head would still spin and it took him a few moments longer to form the right words than usual, but once they finally came out, those words were beginning to be less and less slurred. "They found out I was a doctor before the collapse and thought I'd be good to keep around."

She saw the smile on his face and her own grew. How many times had she thought about the last time she had seen him smile? That it might have been the actual last time she would ever see it. And now, here he was in front of her, showcasing that smirk that had won her over all those years ago. Maybe just a faint piece of his smile, but a smile nonetheless. “Whatever you want. You let me know when you’re ready.” She didn’t want to rush him - not at all. It was already a lot for him to see her after all these years, but then to have his two remaining siblings (which she would have to get as soon as they got back from the ranch) and then his sons, one of which he had never met - it was a lot. She didn’t blame him for not wanting to see them yet.

Thankfully, he wasn't quite ready for that.

"Just... let me get to where I can think straight and don't look like the walking dead, okay?" He asked, a faint chuckle escaping as he spoke. Andy's eyes remained trained on the ceiling, though he wasn't really looking at anything in particular so he closed them when Renee began speaking about their sons.

"So brave..." He repeated, his tone a hushed whisper as his smile became whimsical, as if he was in a waking dream that reminded him of something comforting. There was no telling how someone would ever react when faced with the horrors that had gripped the world. It was the same as a soldier who'd never seen combat. Training and preparation only went so far. The true mettle of a person would be discovered the first time a bullet snapped by their head. Hearing his son had shown any strength in such times was a relief on so many levels.

Jake let himself smile when the guy asked about a good doctor. Yeah, Jake knew of a good doctor. "I do know of one as it happens. She's one of the best in fact." Was grinning like a smitten Cheshire Cat fitting for this moment? No, not really but that didn't stop him. "She'll get you fixed up in no time at all."

It was at this point he realised he might need to tell the guy, Andrei, where they were going. Jake wasn't sure how much of this Andrei was going to remember considering the trauma and the blood loss and he still wasn't entirely sure if he could fully trust Andrei (as in was there a reason he was being kept in chains? Was he dangerous to himself and/or others?). Which brought him to pondering if bringing Andrei to Redwood was a good idea or not. But he didn't ponder this for long. Andrei was injured and losing blood. He needed help, help Redwood could provide. And Redwood had the Council who were better placed to decide if Andrei really was a threat or not.

Despite the pain and the wooziness he was beginning to experience, Andy couldn't help a light chuckle from escaping. He hoped like hell this doctor was as good as this stranger claimed. Emergency medical procedures were difficult enough in perfect conditions, let alone when things were dirty, poorly lit and much, much more desperate.

Considering the state of the guy, he actually managed to make it a few steps before stumbling. Jake rushed forward to try and catch him before he hit the ground. "You ain't got anything to be sorry about," he said to him as he tried to steady him with his arms. Jake didn't know if what he had said was true. Maybe there was good reason why this guy had been in shackles and Jake was possibly endangering himself by helping him. But his gut told him the opposite. This man needed help, help Jake could provide.

"Stay right here. I'm gonna find a key to get those things off of you. Then we're getting out of here, alright?"

It felt good to have a plan set out for them, something for them to work towards. And when Jake said they were getting out of there, he meant they were going back to Redwood. Back at Redwood were people who knew how to handle things better than he could. Plus Renee was a doctor who could treat whatever injuries this poor guy had.

Renee. Just thinking about her made him want to smile. But right now wasn't the time to smile. Later. He could smile as much as he wanted about Renee later.

After making sure the guy wasn't about to collapse onto his face, Jake went over to the newly dead guy. He searched the body and found a bunch of keys. "Aha!" He declared as he jangled the keys for a moment. "Bet at least one of these will help." He went back to the prisoner and began testing each of the keys on his wrist shackles. "I'm Jake, by the way," he told him as he worked through the keys. Finally the lock on the shackles clicked and the offending items fell away from the guy's wrists.

With Jake's help Andy pushed himself up onto his feet. He brought a hand up to wipe at the blood that was in his eyes and exhaled sharply. "I'm just..." He trailed off for a moment as he tried to gather his thoughts. "I think I'll be okay." Again he wiped at the blood on his face before reaching down and pressing into the wounds in his side in an attempt to stem the blood flow. "You don't happen to know a good doctor nearby, do you?" He said, his words being accompanied by a raspy chuckle.

His eyes were open and staring at her. She could see the pain in his eyes. The fear that this wasn't real even though it was. Four years was a long time and this seemed almost impossible. They were here. Together. Alive. Against all odds, they had made it. But Renee didn't know what he had done to get here. She could only guess based on the haunting look she could see in his eyes as they stared at one another. After all, the road to Redwood was never easy.

His words tore through her and she grabbed his hand with her free one and held it tightly. "I know you did," she muttered, leaning down and kissing him softly. She missed him. God, she missed him. And when she felt the familiar feeling of his lips against hers, she knew this wasn't a dream. "I'm so glad you're okay."

Renee's voice and her touch quickly pushed away the ghastly memories and elicited a soft sigh. She was right, he was home now. Or, at least what would pass for home from here on out. It was almost as if his psyche couldn't handle any more tears letting him, finally, focus on the good. His wife, his boys and his brother and sister were alive and he would get to see them again.

Andy nodded faintly, taking a deep breath and, at long last, seemingly able to take in the moment. "I understand." He replied. His skills as a doctor had served him well in the apocalypse and he had no doubt it would do the same here in Redwood, but he was well aware of how these things worked. He would've been leery of any place that didn't have some sort of screening process.

The mention of the boys brought out a light smile. Andy had been so overwhelmed by the onslaught of emotions it was difficult to focus on any one thing. It was enough to make him feel foolish that he hadn't been obsessing about seeing his sons. "Not... now, though..." He glanced to her with a bit of a sheepish expression on his face. "At least wait until I can get cleaned up so I don't scare them."

The warmth of his fingertips as they gently stroked her cheek sent a wave through her. The rag in her hand faltered for a moment as the memory of his hands and warmth of his skin became real. She had almost forgotten how it felt when he touched her. The feeling of his hands as they moved across her skin. How soft yet firm they could be at the same time. She could only swallow the surge of emotion that had almost flown out of her from that one single yet meaningful second when his fingers found her face for the first time.

But of course, his question was lingering in the air. "I'm...." but she didn't finish it, not right away. Because over the years, Renee had adopted an almost compulsory response to anytime someone asked her if she was okay. I'm fine, don't worry about me. There were days it were true and then there were days where the lie had been so forced she was almost sure that someone would see right through it. Cass had, most definitely seen it and she was sure Jake had too.

Jake.

Renee had to stop herself from traveling down that rabbit hole right now. That would be something she would need to face but only after she had taken care of Andy.

Fine. The word had threatened to come out once again, but could she really tell him that? I'm fine. I'm alive. I'm not at all struggling to cope with everything that has happened since the fucking zombie apocalypse and what I had to do to get our boys here safe and sound. I'm handling raising them on my own and keeping them safe from everything just fine. That was what played on repeat in her head. Don't let anyone know your fear. Be strong, be resilient because in this world, weakness got you killed. But looking at Andy now, battered and beaten and hurt, she couldn't tell the lie she had so easily practiced over the years. "It's been hard," she admitted freely, her head bobbing as she struggled to keep her voice steady, "I've done everything I can to make sure Oliver and Henry are safe and protected....."

But that was the thing about hope, it wasn't reasonable or logical. It didn't care if the odds were stacked against it or how foolish it was. It also forced men under unspeakable conditions to do horrible things in order to maintain that faint, unreasonable, illogical and oh-so foolish glimmer.

"I'm sorry..." Was all he could manage in a hushed whisper. He couldn't imagine the horrors Renee had experienced. The fear that came with being a mother during the real life apocalypse was one even Andy was incapable of truly understanding. And yet she had succeeded in keeping herself and her boys safe as they'd navigated this new, violent world.

Eyes opened again and peered up to Renee's face. With his vision now slowly coming into focus Andy almost feared he would finally see through the haze and his wife would be someone else and their exchange of words had only been a fever dream.

Before Jake could answer the question spat in his direction, the guy in the shackles had jumped up and started to choke the man in front of Jake. That left one remaining armed bandit for Jake to take care of.

Jake aimed his drawn bow at the remaining bandit, who happened to be stood there with his eyes bugging out of his skull in surprise at this turn of events. "Drop your weapon and you won't get an arrow to the face," Jake called out at him. Jake didn't want to kill the guy, or anyone else for that matter, but he could be pushed to that extreme measure. He had his kids waiting for him back in Redwood after all. Also thinking of Redwood made Jake realise these bandits were fairly close to the town. That was something Jake should take to the Council as soon as he got back. If he got back...

Fortunately for Jake, his bandit had lowered his gun. That was a move in the right direction! Unfortunately for everyone, the dead guy started to make that sickening groaning noise a freshly turned zombie loved to make so much. Without thinking about it, Jake turned and loosed his arrow into the dead guy's skull. At this close range, Jake couldn't miss and the arrow lodged itself between the dead guy's eyes. His groans died in his throat as he died for a second time.

In a desperate attempt to free himself from the bloody madman, the bandit tossed his rifle away and scrambled to draw a knife from his belt. With wild, frenzied swings he tried to reach behind him in hopes the knife would find its target and cause the stranglehold to be released.

Still, Andy didn't waver. Even as the knife dug into his skin, opening slashes across his the back of his hand, his grip never loosened. He cried out in pain as he felt the knife plunge into his side but he held on like a savage bulldog. Lifting a knee, he placed it in the small of the bandit's back and pulled backward, falling with a -thud- onto the forest floor, a sickening -crack- marking the end of the bandit's hopeless flailing.

Through the red haze, the glint of a blood soaked blade caught Andy's eye. Only then did he release the still struggling bot obviously weakened bandit. His hand reached out, groping for the knife and almost instinctively curling around the handle once it was found. In an instant he was on the back of his fallen foe, savagely driving the knife into the side of the man's neck. With another grunt Andy yanked the knife toward him, opening a gruesome wound and causing blood to splash onto the soil.

Though it was apparent he had won this fight, Andy was not finished. He drove the knife into the bandit's neck with near psychotic fervor only stopping when the man's head was barely still attached by a few strands of gore.

He was safe and alive.

As much as Renee wanted to cry with him with her own happy tears, she knew she needed to be a strong presence. She had been like this since she left their family home - keeping her emotions to moments where it was just her and her alone so her boys didn't see her when she felt vulnerable. They had needed her to be there for them and provide them a secure presence so they never had to worry about being afraid of anything. Her tears were stinging her eyes but she held them back. They would fall, she was sure, but only when she truly believed that Andy could handle seeing it. But for now, he needed her.

But Nate's was just another in a long list of names that had been snuffed out while Andy toiled away on another continent for years. There had been so many others it almost felt heartless to feel his brother had been reduced to little more than a memory.

Finally, Andy gave a dour nod. Years ago he had mourned the loss of his family and a life that had long been replaced with the struggle to survive in a cesspool of humanity at its most brutal and unhinged. And it was that thought Andy found stuck in the forefront of his mind.

Even before society fell beneath the weight of the undead hordes, the regions of Africa he had been deployed to might as well have been a different world. In the wake of the apocalypse it became something much more violent and harrowing. It was in this world Andy didn't merely survive, but was forced to thrive.

In the moment Andy began to feel selfish, greedy for the way he only thought of himself. His eyes opened and looked up to Renee, studying her features for a long while. The years hadn't been kind to anyone, let alone the two of them and yet she still looked exactly the same to Andy. Slowly he reached up and with an almost hesitant, careful touch let his fingertips brush against her cheek. It was as if he feared she would vanish just like she had in so many dreams.

She cut the bandages and clipped them into place and closed her kit before their gazes met and she saw his eyes. It may have been years since they last saw each other but she could still read him. She always had been able to. She knew what he was trying to say and she blinked away her tears of joy as she cradled his face and nodded. "I know," she muttered, fighting the urge to lunge forward at him. "I know...."

"Henry..." Hearing the name and speaking it for the first time broke the floodgates. Tears began streaming down Andy's face, leaving streaks through the dried blood that had given him a crimson mask. The aches and pains, the scars both mental and physical had left him in a state of near shock and all he could do for a very long time is lay with his head in his wife's hands and cry.

When Andy's mental faculties had started to return, his mind went back through the words Renee has spoken moments ago and seemed to struggle with making sense of them.

"Alex and Cass?" Two more names he truly believed he would never speak again, except in mourning. But there was one glaring omission. Andy's eyes opened, the tears glinting in the dim light of the cell as he remained silent, but questioning, the image of Renee looking down at him coming into focus at long last and he found himself nearly stunned at the sight of her.

He started to explain his injuries and she reluctantly pulled her gaze away from his face to look to his side. She could see the bright red liquid staining his shirt and how it seemed to spread across the tattered material. As much as she wanted to really take in the fact that he was here and in front of her, she knew she needed to treat him first. She carefully pulled up his shirt to see the stab wounds. She had seen plenty of injuries to not be fazed by it, but to see the deep wounds in her husband, she couldn't stop the pit in her stomach. "It looks like it missed your organs and the wounds aren't too wide that they'll need sutures. But I'll clean them and get some pressure bandages on them. Just wait here, okay?"

Andy's head shook slowly when Renee voiced her concern, "It's fine." He said, his tone still low. His eyes did finally slowly open and, though it took a moment, focused on Renee for the first time in what had felt like forever. "I never thought..." He trailed off, unable to finish his sentence under the weight of the haze and the now growing emotions.

At first, she thought her eyes had been tricking her with a cruel trick. That she was just been subconsciously willed the image of Andy to be on this stranger. But even with the years having passed, there was almost no mistaking that this was him. This was Andy. And if she wasn't sure before, the moment he spoke and her name fell from his lips, she knew. This was Andy. "Oh my God..."

When hands touched his skin it nearly shocked him back to the present. His eyes opened, just a little at first, and finally began focusing on the face in front of him. "R-Renee?" The name passed through his lips for the first time in years. He hadn't dared speak it all this time out of some perverse fear that doing so would make her more than a dream and as long as she remained in his memory she wouldn't be subjected to the horrors that had gripped the real world.

location: precinct

Renee hadn't been given much details about the new person that had arrived at the precinct. Other than the fact that they were a male, Jake had saved him from a group of bandits and was injured and therefore, needed medical treatment. She knew the vetting process would need to be done but since she was newly appointed to the Council, she wasn't quite sure what all that entailed and would rather have someone with her to do the questions. Preferably Ermano or Salem. She felt like they would actually give her some good guidance on how to proceed.

But one thing Renee knew how to do was treat a person and check for any bites. She had done it enough times that she could easily do it in her sleep. So she dropped off her boys at the daycare and went to the clinic to gather her supplies. The fresh medkit she had found at the store with Isaac would work well but she brought extra gear, just in case. It would be easier, of course, to bring him to the clinic and treat him there, but protocol was protocol so she would need to take the clinic with her.

But nothing that she brought would prepare her for what she was about to see the moment she walked in.

It wasn't her first trip to the precinct and it was definitely not going to be her last. She knew the building well. Renee didn't look to the jail cells immediately - she was grabbing the keys off the wall so she could open the jail cell door. "Sorry for the accommodations," she spoke, not realizing who she was talking to, "this is just a precaution for everyone's...."

But she stopped as she turned to face the person and when she saw who was on the other side, she froze. The keys and her bag fell to the ground with a loud clatter and thud and whatever she was about to say was gone from her mind. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Who she was seeing. Her hand covered her mouth as her breath caught in her throat.

A voice broke through the fog, causing Andy to ever so slightly stir. There was no comfort to be found in the words and he didn't respond. His head tilted to the side and eyes opened, though they failed to see much. He blinked and lazily wiped at the dried blood on his face, trying in vain to see who was speaking. It wasn't until a single word, a name, spoken with incredulous shock did any sense of familiarity begin to sink in.

“Andy?”

It didn’t sit well with Jake that this hunting trip was forcing him to go further from the safety of Redwood than he was used to but he had a job to complete. He had only been staying there for about four months and he didn’t realise it until now but that place was like home, for him and his kids, his Mighty Hawks.

Straying further away from Redwood caused a pit to form in his stomach. The advice from both David and Orion played on repeat in his head (don’t make noise, find a good vantage point, pay attention to your surroundings, and let the prey come to you), with the hope that if he followed it to the letter, he’d be able to get back to Redwood and his Mighty Hawks sooner. Of course, the sooner he got back to Redwood, the sooner he’d see Renee again. No, he shouldn’t let himself get distracted but a faint smile did appear on his features as he continued to walk through the woods.

Up ahead, the woods thinned and opened up into a clearing. Jake figured that’d be a good place to wait and watch to see if the deer he had been tracking might walk through. He was about to seek out a good hiding spot when he heard voices. He narrowed his eyes at the clearing, struggling to see if anyone was already in the clearing. He angled his head to one side and listened. Again, he heard voices. He wasn’t alone. 

He quickly put himself behind a large tree, obscuring himself from the view of anyone hanging out in the clearing. He closed his eyes and forced himself to listen out for more clues about what was waiting for him up ahead, rather than to the heavy thumping of his heart. He only caught snatches of sounds but he managed to determine there were bandits up ahead, since zombies don’t curse like bandits do. Jake carefully peeked around the tree and spotted another he could use as cover that was closer to the clearing. He took a deep breath and dashed over to it.

“Fix his leg or, I swear to fucking God, I will fucking shoot you!”

That didn’t sound very friendly. Jake frowned. Before he could even stop himself, he was reaching back to take an arrow from the quiver strapped to his back. He notched the arrow in his bow but didn’t pull the bowstring back. He had played the hero so many times in movies, this was like muscle memory for him. However, in the movies, if he got hurt, someone would yell ‘cut’ and he could go back to his trailer like nothing had happened. It wasn’t going to be like that here.

The only saving grace to being considered the 'property' of the bloodthirsty clan was Andy had found those who turned to violence and depravity in the wake of the outbreak generally weren't the most intelligent. This enabled Andy to subtly direct the group to travel in the direction he was hoping to go anyway with the intent of breaking away the moment the opportunity presented itself. Thankfully, as the band tromped their way through the Virginia countryside, just such an opportunity arose.

The infected hadn't been particularly shrewd in their ambush of the bandits, that the hapless group had been surprised stemmed more from their ineptitude at understanding the basic concepts of security while resting and less the stealth and cunning of the undead that swarmed the camp. It wasn't the first time they had encountered the ghouls while Andy was in tow and he had gotten the art of hiding down to a science. With no weapon and his wrists and ankles in shackles there was little he could do in the way of defending himself.

Two of the bandits fell quickly, their throats ripped out by the gnashing teeth of the shambling creatures. Andy had managed to conceal himself behind a fallen tree, where he'd remain until the short, bloody affair was over. While running and hiding wasn't his natural response to such situations, this wasn't Andy's fight. He carried nothing but hatred and disdain for his captors and their demise would only serve his desire to escape.

Unfortunately, two of the bandits escaped unscathed and a third, while gravely injured, had survived the attack. After being forcefully removed from his hiding place Andy was thrown to the ground next to the wounded man. It was painfully evident from the moment Andy laid eyes on the man there was no hope. Aside from the several deep bite marks that were bleeding profusely it looked as though at least two or more of the ghouls had already begun gnawing away at his leg, just above and below the knee, and the limb was hanging on by a few strands of viscera and splintered bone.

“Help him or you're fucking dead!” The came in a shaking growl that caused Andy, who had pulled himself up to his knees, to shake his head. Even if they'd been in the middle of an advanced ICU there would be little anyone could do for the bloodied man who was already quickly losing consciousness.

“It's too late.” Andy replied, his tone calm yet forceful. Not only was he powerless to help the wounded man, the longer they stood here and yelled the more likely they would attract more of their undead assailants and Andy wasn't feeling lucky enough to fend off (or hide from) another attack. “He's already gone and we should get the hell out of here, too.”

It came to no surprise that reason wouldn't be listened to. Instead, the butt of a rifle came crashing down, catching Andy in the face. The blow knocked Andy to jut his hands out to keep him from smacking down onto the ground and opened a gash above his right eye that immediately started to bleed and blurred the former surgeon's vision.

“Fix his leg or, I swear to fucking God, I will fucking shoot you!”

The rage bubbled up within Andy's chest but he didn't act, not yet. He knew to do so know would surely result in getting familiar with the wrong end of the rifle that was now pointed at his skull. Slowly he pushed himself back to his knees and looked up, the blood in his eyes leaving the world nothing more than a red tinged fog. He was about to speak when another, unfamiliar voice rang out. Although he could barely see, Andy recognized an opportunity when it had presented itself. With his two living captors distracted he managed to back away from the newly expired bandit and get to his feet. Using the back of a shackled hand to wipe the blood from his eyes Andy blinked, trying to clear his sight.