Joshua Waters

[connors979]

<bzzt>

*The transmission is filled in the background with the groans of both the undead and collapsing wood. Josh speaks with resignation, his breathing heavy. He stumbles a bit over his words*

“I.. I’m trapped in here y’all. I’m not making it out. I got..” *he coughs violently* “a sec here though.”

*you hear rounds being loaded into a revolver as he speaks, and the beginnings of splintering*

“I’m praying to the Lord I bought enough time. Alaska.. Sounds like a damn paradise.. Build yourselves a future there. Civilization. Something..” *he is interrupted by another coughing fit “Something beautiful.”

“I’d be there with you.. But I don’t belong here. Never have. I’ve tried but.. I belong with Amy. And that’s where I’ll be in a couple minutes here.”

“Chloe. Darnell. Lead well. Stay strong and hold on to our morals. Everyone else, do what those two say.”

*he manages a weak chuckle*

“I’m sorry I can’t come with all you.. amazing people. But I’m gonna take as many of them with me as I can.”

*As the splintering gets louder, you can hear Josh groan in pain as he gets up using his broken leg. Six loud bangs follow, before his beloved .38 clatters on the ground. Finally, a knife slides from his belt.*

Josh’s final words are solemn but almost peaceful: “Goodbye, everyone.”

His radio turns off for the last time.

<click>

Joshua Waters was a stoic, selfless, and strong man, who made an excellent cop. Before the outbreak, he was truly happy. Planning a marriage to the love of his life, his hopes were high for the future. But the outbreak struck at the worst time– Amy was visiting family in Louisville. Managing to survive the initial strike in Riverside, he desperately raced the infection to the big city. Louisville had fallen by the time he arrived.

As he put it once, “There are some things you just.. Don’t get over.” When the love of his life succumbed to the infection early on, he was completely broken. He saw no reason to live anymore, but refused to end it himself on principle. Listening to the radio, he tried to give himself purpose.

That purpose came in the form of the UC. He dedicated himself to helping build something new, and to fighting back against the infection. His skills were well suited to the apocalypse– his fishing experience and marksmanship brought nourishment and defense to New Haven.

But the deep depression he felt from missing his soulmate never faded. As the sprinters flooded Knox, Josh made one last trip to his fiancee’s grave, alone. He refused to risk anyone else along with him. Maybe part of him wanted it all to end.

It was not the endless hordes, his knife, or his strength that faulted Josh. One infected man ambushed him from under his truck, biting deep into his shin. Only hours before UC was scheduled to extract via plane to Alaska.

Josh used the last hours of his life to say goodbye and get everyone he could out– he blared the sirens on four emergency vehicles in an attempt to draw the infected away from the extracting survivors. He fought to the very end.