Pay The Fee

"Pay The Fee" is the fourth episode of the first season of Predators & Prey. It is the fourth episode overall.

Plot
The episode starts. Two cars are seen driving along the road, each belonging to either John or William. Inside William's car, Shane is seen looking through the window of the rear passanger seat. Vivian is reading a book and William is driving. They were out of the city as trees were besides the two cars, so Shane was looking at the trees, really, and a few occasional stranded lurker here and there.

Then, the view would shift into John's car. Alex was sleeping, his head rested against the window. Jill was looking at the map while John was driving. Edward was just.. Sitting there, watching fate take him wherever.

"...If you turn right, you'll be able to enter the highway." Jill said to John. Pointing at the map as if John was paying attention.

John simply nodded in a tired manner. "Are you listening to me?" Jill snapped her fingers in front of John's face, who gently slapped her hand away from his face.

"I'm watching the road. Quit that." John said.

"You look like hell, John." Edward took note. "I think you should rest."

"To be honest, I think we all should." John mumbled. "I'll signal Will that we can pull over at the next gas station."

John pressed on the pedal, driving a bit further on the left lane so that his and William's driver windows would align. John rolled his window down and so did William.

"Let's pull over at the next gas station!" John yelled at William.

William nodded, flashing him a thumbs up. John slightly let go of the pedal again, his car falling back behind Will's.

Jill sighed, "We've been at it like this for two days now..."

"Would you rather prefer being left at home?" John asked.

"Wh.. No, no. Not at all.." Jill shook her head negatively in response.

"Hah.. I thought so." John chuckled a bit. His eyes fell on the rear-view mirror, checking up on Alex. "He's asleep like a rock."

"Yeah. Driving around like this is pretty exhausting, I can't blame him." Edward mumbled.

"For once, I agree." Jill agreed.

"..We need to find a new home, you know we can't keep.. Driving around like this.." John mumbled. "A home that's safe. A home where the kids can grow up and live. A home where /they/ won't haunt them." He sighed, shaking his head as his baggy eyes remained darting at the road.

"We do, John. That's common sense. But what are you thinking of?" Edward asked.

"I dunno... That's the problem. Everywhere seems like a death carnival ride these days." John sighed, pessimism overthrowing his other thoughts.

"Yeah. I guess it happens." Edward mumbled.

After some time, a gas station would appear in sight of the two cars. William's car pulled into the petrol station and John's car followed. The two cars cut their engines. The group stepped out of the cars. Alex woke up from his sleep, yawning in confusion.

"Where are we..?" He asked.

"It's a gas station. We're gonna see if we can get some gas and probably see if we can stay for a night or two." John said, shutting his driver's door.

Alex hopped out of the car, closing the door. He scanned the area, walking over to the gas station door. He took out his flip knife just in case, quietly stepping in as the rest of the group conversated outside. The inside of the gas station looked awful. There was old, dry blood over on the counter and on the walls behind it, most of the items were looted.

"...Hello?" Alex called out, receiving a hiss from the end of the room. He walked over to investigate the sound. After walking past an aisle of shelves, a lurker lunged towards Alex, trying to grab a bite of his flesh, only for Alex to back up. The lurker followed Alex, who kept backing up. He began to taunt the lurker.

"Come on, you slow piece of shit." He told to the lurker, circling around a shelve before engaging forth and stabbing the lurker in the forehead. The lurker fell down as Alex pulled his knife back, crouching down to wipe the blood off of the knife into the lurker's clothes. "Heh."

His attention turned to the shelves. He began to look for supplies - food, water, anything of use. He grabbed a packet of batteries off of the shelf, a tube of toothpaste and an energy bar. He'd glance over at the counter, vaulting over it - landing directly into someone else's dried up blood.

"Ugh, gross." Alex wrinkled his nose, wiping his shoes on the clean tiles besides the blood. He'd examine the cash register, tapping on a few buttons of it until he got tired of fiddling with it, shoving it off and letting it fall on the floor of the opposite side.

Alex saw the shadow of someone coming towards the entrance of the gas station. He thought of doing something mischevious and pulling a prank on someone - he crouched down, hiding his body from plain sight. Shane walked into the gas station, conversating still to be heard outside.

"Alex, you in here?" Shane called out, noticing the recently killed lurker next to the shelves. He almost stepped in its blood, which made him take a few steps back and glance at the shelves. He approached the counter, unsuspecting of anyone on the other side, until Alex popped out. "Boo!"

Shane gasped, jumping up slightly before sending a light punch to Alex's stomach as he vaulted over again in laughter.

"You idiot! Don't do that ever again--!" Shane frowned at Alex.

"Come on Shane, when did you become such a pussy?" Alex teased.

"Probably ever since I found out people eat eachother for breakfast, lunch and dinner... I'm just on edge." Shane shrugged.

"Alright, I understand." Alex responded. "Sorry, man."

"It's okay... What are you doing here anyways?" Shane asked.

"Nothing much.. Just checking what's inside." Alex said, glancing around the interior. "Everything's looted. No surprise though."

"I guess so. I don't blame the people. I'd want to take everything and leave myself." Shane mumbled.

"I guess." Alex shrugged. "You know, it's crazy."

"What is?" Shane asked.

"How at one point, we had everything we ever wanted, and the next day, the world started to go to shit..." He said, walking across an aisle.

"Yeah. You're right. I miss the movies and popcorn--.. Movie nights, damn. Those were awesome." Shane reminisced, walking after Alex.

"Hah. Movie Nights? True. If anything, I miss the /internet/, man. I miss /anime/." Alex grinned at Shane.

"Bro. Don't start with that weeb shit." Shane laughed off.

"Pft, shut up.  It was fun watching it once in a while." Alex said, clapping his hands as he started to head out.

"I'm not gonna lie. I'll miss all that." Shane mumbled as the two stepped out of the gas station.

They looked forward. William was filling his car with what was left inside the petrol tanks, and the rest were setting up a camp fire a bit further besides the gas station, the trees covering them from the street. Alex sniffed the air, his stomach rumbling shortly after.

"Man. I'm starving." Alex whined a bit, lightly being hit in the shoulder by Shane.

"Quit whining, they're already cooking dinner, look." Shane pointed towards the bonfire-in-the-making.

They walked over to the group as Shane greeted them all. "What's for dinner?"

"Ah.. canned pasta." Edward said, trying to light the papers that were under the wood logs on fire.

"Did you boys find something in the gas station?" Vivian asked Alex and Shane.

"Nah.. Nothing much. Just a candy bar, some batteries... Oh, and toothpaste." Alex said, tossing said items in the bag with the rest of their supplies.

"The sun is setting." John noticed, watching the sun begin to slowly fall down.

"Yeah. Guess we'll have to sleep here for the night." Said William, who walked over after filling up the car.

"The inside of the gas station is clear. Seems secure, the only con is that.. There's dry blood and a lurker dead on the ground." Alex said.

"Sounds good enough. We'll have to fix that up, but.. Maybe we won't have to freeze out in the cold after all." Jill mused.

Edward set the fire up. He then put up metal bars and set them in a way so that he could put the canned pasta to cook. The group sat down in a circle, as Edward kept an eye on the food.

"So.. Where are we going next?" Shane asked.

"We follow the plan. We keep going down south and hope hitting California or Arizona. We can't afford freezing in the winter like this when it comes." John said.

"And what then?" Vivian asked.

"We set up a base. A place we can defend. A place where we can call /home/." William told, smiling over at Vivian and Shane. "But we need to stay together to achieve that."

"That's right." John agreed with a nod. "Right now, all of us - we are a family. One, strong family." He added.

"That's what I like to hear." Edward smiled, agreeing to the idea.

A single lurker wandered to the group's direction. It caught a glimpse of the light from the fire, which attracted it. It wasn't entirely night yet, but it was dark enough for the fire to stand out. The group noticed the lurker.

"I got it." Alex said, standing up and pulling his knife out.

"Alex, wait-." John reached his hand out after standing up.

Alex brushed it off, walking over to the lurker and stabbing it through the eye. The lurker fell down. John frowned, realizing that this is the way life is going to be from now on. Alex walked back to the bonfire, sitting down.

"...What?" Alex asked, looking at the group, which was staring at his actions.

William cleared his throat, "I don't think it's appropriate for you to..."

"Defend myself? Myself and the group?" Alex blinked at William. "I don't know if you realized this, but this is the way the world is right now..." He added.

Everyone sat silent, with John breaking the silence. "He's right. As long as it's not a living person, I agree with Alex."

"Times are changing." Edward gave a sigh, removing the pasta from the fire. "Alright. Bring your plates."

Everybody took a plastic plate as Edward put the pasta in each plate, rationing them equally.

"Thanks." Shane said.

"Yeah. Thanks, Ed." John smiled at Edward, who returned the smile.

After eating, the group stood up, cleaned after themselves and went into the gas station for sleep. Vivian and Jill took care of the lurker corpse inside the gas station, dragging it out. The group members all placed their blankets and pillows in different locations. John and Jill put their bags in one corner, William and Vivian put theirs in the other, Edward put his in behind the counter, while Alex and Shane put theirs in yet another corner.

"It smells like shit in here." Jill complained, laying on the rock hard floor on her blanket.

"It's better than being out there in the cold." John mumbled.

"Yeah. You're right." Jill chuckled quietly. "It's weird when you think about all of this. You have kids killing to survive."

"Alex, he.. He wasn't killing that lurker. He was just putting it down." John mumbled, staring at the ceiling as he spoke, "They aren't people, Jill, and we can't treat them like people."

"I know. I just hope all of this ends soon." Jill sighed.

"Yeah. That's all we can do right now. It's all about survival now, though." John whispered. "If we don't put ourselves as a priority, we can't expect to make it out alive after a single month..."

"I understand." Jill nodded. She rested her head on John's chest, her eyes shutting down.

"I just wish we all make it out alive..." John whispered to Jill. His fingers running through across Jill's blonde locks.

"We will." Jill said, as if she meant it this time, despite her real thoughts.

"Let's hope..." John looked down at Jill, he looked up at John. They both kissed.

William and VIvian were also talking in the other corner of the station. Whispering to each other, not to disturb the others' sleep.

"I don't want our son to grow up in a world like this..." Vivian muttered to her husband, staring at the ceiling with a bland stare of worry.

"I know, Vivian... Neither do I, but it's what it takes now." William mumbled. "Earlier today, when I saw Alex stand up and put that lurker down like that, I realized something."

Vivian looked at William in curiosity.

"I realized that things are never going to be the same. People will kill each other to satisfy their greed. I know.. That used to happen before, but.. This time, it's different. There are no more laws, no police to stop that. I don't think the military exists anymore either... I think that people are going to do whatever it takes.." William mumbled out his thoughts, "Whatever it takes to achieve what they believe in... And trust me, there are a lot of sick people out there... I've seen a lot of it during my years of service in the marines and in the Seattle Police Department..."

Vivian nodded quietly, before sighing, "William, promise me something..."

William glanced at Vivian, "Promise you.. Promise you what..?"

"Promise me.." Vivian whispered to William, "Promise me that if I die, you'll do whatever it takes to protect Shane."

"But-.. But you won't die, Vivian. Don't talk like that..." William frowned at his wife.

"I'm not joking around, Will. Promise me." Vivian said, almost demanding it from him. She slightly arose from her pillow.

William looked at Vivian for a second, clearing his throat. He felt the pressure and power of said words hold William down. He found it hard to promise such a thing, as he didn't know whether /he'll/ be alive, himself, in the next few months.

"I.. I promise. I promise." William said, repeating himself, even.

They went to sleep.

The next morning, Alex was the first person to wake up. The sun had barely rose up, yet the sun rays landed directly in Alex's eyes. He sat up, releasing a groggy yawn. He saw the rest of his group still sleeping, so he took a peek through the glass windows to catch a glimpse of outside.

He noticed someone looking at the car windows. The person had a hoodie on and wore baggy clothes, so it was hard to determine how the person looked like. Alex stood up and creeped out of the gas station - not really thinking of the consequences. As the person was about to turn and walk to the other car, Alex finally spoke: "Who are you?"

The person jumped slightly, turning around - a knife in their hands, pointed at Alex. Alex stepped back and took a better look at the person. It was a girl, around Alex's age. Her face was all dirty and dusty. Her hair looked like it wasn't washed in weeks.

"D-Don't move. I just want some f-food. Please." The girl begged.

"W-Wait! Don't point that thing at me, i'm not gonna hurt you!" He said, his hands slightly rose up to show that he's harmless. "You said you wanted food?"

"Yes..." The girl nodded. She turned her head to the gas station, "Don't tell anyone. I don't want to get you guys in trouble... How many of you are there..?"

"Trouble? What trouble? There are only seven of us... But we wouldn't hurt a fly, though. I promise." Alex naively said.

"Do you guys have a lot of food..? I wouldn't want to burden you..." She said.

"Trust me, we have enough--.. Hold on, i'll get you something." Alex said, he was about to turn, until someone from the gas station called for him.

"Alex? Who're you talking to out there?" It turns out to be Shane, who freezes upon the sight of Alex talking with the girl.

"What the--.. Where'd she come from?" Shane mumbled to Alex.

"She just wants food, man. I was thinking of--.." Alex said, before getting cut off.

"What? No way, man. We need that food." Shane turned to Alex, disagreed immediately. He naively turned his back to the girl, who frowned.

"Come on, man. She just wants some food, can't we spare her some?" Alex asked,

The girl walked up behind Shane, taking the opportunity and latching her arm around his torso, her other hand pressing the tip of the sharp blade against Shane's neck.

"Don't move." The girl said.

Alex's eyes widened, he froze almost immediately. "What the fuck.."

The girl whistled loudly as two men walked out from behind the gas station. One was holding a rifle and the other one held a pistol.

"Well, look at what we got here..." One man said, examining Alex and Shane, then the two cars parked besides the petrol booths.

"Let me go!" Shane said, rather loud.

"Shut up, prick." The other man, with a rifle told.

"How many of them are there?" Asked the man with the pistol.

"Seven. Including these two." The girl told.

"Good job, Emily!" The man with the rifle praised.

"Thanks, Lance." The girl smiled at the other.

Alex glared at the trio as Shane looked frightened while at gun point. Lance looked at the man with the pistol.

"Tony, go draw the other fools out." Lance said. Tony, the guy with the pistol nodded and walked over to the gas station door. He slammed his fist against the window multiple times, waking everybody up.

"Alright you pricks, get the fuck up and line up. As far as I know, there are five of you inside, so don't try no funny bidness." Tony said, backing up from the window.

"What the hell..." William mumbled to himself, watching everyone else stand up and walk out to see what's happening.

"Wait. Stay here. You shoot them with your pistol in case anything happens." Vivian told William, who nodded, agreeing to that plan.

The rest walked out, Vivian gasped, seeing Shane have a knife against his throat.

"Shane!" She screamed, frightened for her son's life.

"Shut up, bitch." Lance said, looking at Emily. "Let the kid line up with the rest."

Emily released Shane, pushing him forth. Shane walked over to his group, lining up along with Alex.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked Shane.

"Yeah- i'm fine." Shane nodded.

"I thought you said there were seven of them in total?" Tony asked Emily.

"I did. The kid said there were seven of them." Emily replied.

"Good fucking grief. Listen, you can come out now and give half of your shit to us. Consider that a fee for you dumbfucks staying alive." Lance yelled out in an attempt to draw William out.

"You're not getting shit from us." Shane said.

"Boy, shut up. You're gonna get us in more trouble." Edward told Shane, shaking his head.

"Yeah. Listen to the old man." Tony told. "I don't like this kid's attitude." He said. He grabbed Shane by the hair and yanked him out of line, slamming a knee in his solar plexus. Shane choked, losing breath. He fell down.

"Don't hurt him!" Vivian screamed.

"Vivian-- Calm down!" Jill tried to calm Vivian.

"Do I have to fucking count? I'll start shooting you assholes right up if y'all don't PAY THE FEE." Lance yelled out again.

"Listen, guys, just-- we can talk about this, can't we?" John tried to negotiate with the bandits.

"We already are." Emily said.

"Exactly. Don't make our day more worse than it is." Tony said. "Now if that one fucker doesn't walk out, i'll start giving punches. And i'll start slow, before straight up deciding on shooting the fuck out of the rest of you all."

Shane regained his breath, he tried to run, but Tony pinned him down.

"Alright. I'll start counting." Lance declared, loud and clear.

"God damn it, where's Will?" Alex cursed, looking at his father.

"Three." Lance yelled. Starting a count down.

"Let me go!" Shane screamed, trying to send punches to Tony in panic, but never landing them due to his reach.

"Just come out, Will!" Edward yelled, trying to get William to walk out.

"Two!" Lance yelled again.

"Quit struggling." Emily told to Shane, who glared at her.

"Will, come out! He's going to hurt Shane!" Vivian screamed, not wanting to get Shane hurt.

"Will!" John screamed out for William.

"One!" Lance yelled again, eyebrows tugging up.

Alex closed his eyes, not wanting to see Shane get beat up.

"William, get out of there!" Even Jill screamed for William to get out.

Tony was ready to deliver punches, his fists raising up in the air. Just as Lance was about to stop the countdown, a gunshot could be heard. Lance turned to see Tony with a bullet hole right in the middle of his forehead. Tony fell down on top of Shane, who pushed the body away and screamed at what just happened, in shock. William was standing at the gas station door, aiming down at Tony.

"Son of a..!" Lance cursed, immediately shooting back at William with the rifle.

William was about to fire another round before realizing that his grip on the pistol he held loosened, time starting to slow down for him. He looked down, seeing his stomach begin to bleed rapidly. A gunshot wound, right in his stomach. The pistol fell out of his hands, and so did William. He fell down on his knees, holding his stomach tightly in a futile attempt to suppress the bleeding, but instead, falling sideways on the ground. Facing the scene, which is going to be the last thing he sees.

Vivian screamed as tears started bursting. She ran out of the line and tended to William along with Jill. Shane ran to his father as well.

"Will! No, no no!!?" Vivian cried out.

"Dad!" Shane screamed.

"I need... Help...." William mumbled out his last words, before losing consciousness from pain and the shock.

John ran to Lance and tried to smack the rifle out of his hands but didn't succeed. Lance backed up and attempted to fire another shot, but Edward was quick to get behind Lance and grab him from behind, immobilising him. Taylor saw them and had drawn out her knife again. Alex saw her and ran to her in an attempt to grab her wrists and stop her, but backed up once she swung the knife in the air in front of Alex.

"Back up!" Emily screamed.

"You don't have to do this..!" Alex told Emily, taking out his own knife and holding it up defensively.

"Yeah, I do! It's how we survived!" Emily yelled, backing up to behind the petrol station.

"Hurting other people to reign on top isn't a good way of surviving!" Alex yelled to her again.

Back at the station, Lance tried to hit Edward with his elbows, successfully getting him to release him from his grip, but at the cost of him accidentally dropping his rifle, causing it to open and it's ammunition rounds to fall out. John punched Lance and Lance returned the punches, eventually running up, grabbing John by the legs and slamming him down on the concrete. He got on top of John and began to send punches to him until Edward pulled him off.

Meanwhile, Emily and Alex were still staring each other down.

"There are more of us! You'll only kill yourself if you still align yourself with that guy!" Alex told.

"He's the one that saved me from getting eaten alive from all of /them/! I'm with him, because he saved me!" Emily said.

"And look at him now! He's getting you killed!" Alex said. "I'm giving you a chance here. Get the fuck out of here before you die."

"I have nowhere to go but my camp. Which is empty." Emily said.

"Then go there. Get supplies. Find other people. People that'll be good for you." Alex advised, his grip on his blade tightening. "I-I don't want to hurt you." He said, tears visibly welling up in his eyes. He clearly didn't know whether he had the guts himself to hurt her despite what her group just did.

"Neither do I." Emily said, clearing her throat.

Suddenly, a "Emily! FUCKING HELP ME!" could be heard from the direction of the gas station. Emily realized that her group wasn't going to win this. She sighed.

"Fine. I-.. I'll go... I'm sorry." Emily nodded, turning and running off away from the gas station. Alex heaved a sigh of relief.

Meanwhile, Edward and John were still fighting Lance. Edward was exhausted already, while Lance and John were still throwing punches. Lance's and John's faces were both bruised up. John grabbed Lance by his arm and shirt, throwing him against the petrol station tank. Lance grunted, getting up. He noticed Tony's handgun next to Tony's body. He crawled on the ground to get to it.

"I'll kill you, you sorry bastards! Each and every one of you!" Lance screamed at the top of his lungs, "Emily! FUCKING HELP ME!"

The lurkers would be creeping out from the surrounding woods, heading to the direction of the gas station. And they didn't creep out in single numbers, no, they were creeping out in biiig numbers. There were thirty, if not, fifty of them. Alex noticed that and froze for a moment. He realized that a few of them noticed him and he couldn't run back to the station since he'd be surrounded that way. Instead, he ran the other direction - the sign indicating that in two miles, he'd reach Centralia.

Edward noticed the lurkers slowly limp towards them. "John!" He called out for his attention.

John grabbed Lance by his feet, dragging him back and continuing to beat on him before noticing the small herd of lurkers. "Fuck..."

John stood up, running to grab Tony's pistol. "Everybody! Get in the cars!"

"I'm not going to leave him like this!" Vivian screamed at John.

"We have to go, /NOW/!" John screamed at Vivian.

"Vivian, we have to go." Jill told, "I'm sorry for your loss, I really am, but we need to go - the lurkers are coming!"

Shane stood up, wiping his dry tears from his face. "Mom, we have to go..."

"I swear, we'll come back and bury him, but now, we NEED to get to safety!" John said.

Jill helped Vivian up and walked her to William's car after taking William's gun. Shane followed, getting into the car. Jill rushed into John's car.

"Ed-- take their car and follow me!" John told to Edward.

"I will!" Edward nodded, walking over to William's car and getting inside in the driver's seat.

"Where's Alex?!" John looked around. "I'm not going anywhere without my son!"

"John, they're almost here! Drive!" Jill screamed, as the lurkers were a few feet away from the cars.

John sighed, turning on the engine, about to press the pedal until Lance barely stood up - having been beaten down. He fell on his butt again.

"Y-You can't leave me here! Help me!" Lance shouted.

"Rot in hell, you son of a bitch." John told, driving off with Edward following after John.

A few of the lurkers limped after the car, but the most of them were focused on the main dish - Lance. He tried to back up, screaming for help, but the lurkers managed to catch up and surrounding him, beginning to devour Lance from each side.

Elsewhere, Alex is seen running towards Centralia. He stopped after beginning to see houses and cars abandoned in the middle of the street, with the occasional lurker here and there.

"What the fuck did I get myself into now..." Alex muttered under his breath.

Seattle Survivors

 * Alex Wolf
 * Shane Payne


 * John Wolf
 * Vivian Payne
 * William Payne
 * Jill Wolf
 * Edward Lawler

Gas Station Bandits

 * Lance
 * Tony
 * Emily