When the radio sparked to life, I was cleaning the rifle I used on watch. Making sure I had the pistol I could hide in my jacket, I pulled the radio from one of my other jacket pockets and answered it.
"Clementine, do you read?" Lee's voice crackled over the airways.
"I copy, Lee. Are you okay?" I responded
"We're fine. The Dairy looks safe enough. We saw some bandits from a distance on the way here, but they didn't see us."
"The Save-Lots group?"
"I think so. Might be the guys that attacked Ben, too."
"I'll tell him."
"Alright. Some other things; they only have one cow. They haven't said what happened to the others, but their last one is sick. They offered to trade some of their butter and milk, as well as some of their dried herbs and spare vegetables for the gas. They've also invited the rest of us over for dinner in exchange for Katja looking over the cow."
"Absolutely not." I replied. "If there are bandits in the area, we can't just leave the motel unguarded. Someone has to stay behind on watch."
"Sort it out amongst yourselves. Bring two cans of gas. To get here, you need to...."
After relaying the directions, Lee signed off.
"Stay Safe, Lee out."
"You too. Clem out."
This having occurred out in the open, the others had joined me part-way through.
"I still don't trust it." I said, to them. "Inviting us all, when they know bandits are nearby? That's just asking to get our stuff stolen."
"I don't either," Lilly nods, "I'll stay behind." She offered.
"If Lilly's not going, I'm not either." Larry stated, crossing his arms.
"Alright, then. Lets take them the gas." Kenny said, picking up one of the heavy cans, while Ben picked up the other, grumbling.
---SaS---
It took about an hour to walk down the road towards town, then back out a few miles on a different road and finally off a dirt track into the woods. We didn't encounter anyone, and quickly found ourselves coming up on a white house on a hill, surrounded by a white picket fence. A red barn off to the left, entirely surrounded by a three-wire, barbed, electric fence.
Lee and Carly were out the front when we got there, They were joined by Andy and a short, dumpy woman holding a basket.
Doug and Mark nowhere to be seen.
"Hey there! I'm Brenda St John, and welcome to the St John Dairy." The woman says with considerable cheer. Fucking cannibal bitch.
Andy looked over the group.
"Where's the woman I talked to at the Motel? And the other guy?"
"They stayed behind to keep watch." I said, staring intently at the man. "There are bandits around, after all." He looks disturbed at my monotone. Or the glare. Either or.
Good.
"Well, that's unfortunate." Brenda said, sounding sad. Yeah, you bitch, think about that before you pull any shit.
Brenda took Kenny, duck and Katja over to the barn, to look at the cow. Ben went to chat with Carly, while Lee took me off to the side.
"You know that bad feeling you got?" Lee asked when he was sure we were too far away for the St Johns to hear. I nodded.
"Yeah. It got worse when you radioed." He nodded.
"I've got it too, now." Lee admitted.
---SaS---
When Doug and Mark returned from inspecting the fence, I was surprised.
Not because they came back, but because Doug was the one injured. He had a crossbow bolt embedded in his upper right arm, which quickly drew attention.
In a minute, Brenda, Katja and I were patching him up in the upstairs bedroom.
The one with the hidden bathroom. Not hidden right now, just a little ensuite with a bath.
We quickly removed the bolt and bandaged the wound. Brenda 'donated' some morphine to ease the pain, leaving Doug dozing.
"He's lucky the bolt didn't hit an artery, or that could have been a lot worse." Katja commented. Brenda nodded.
"Poor dear. Them bandit's been getting worse, recently. They're holed up in the big-box, on the other side of the woods.
They're real dangerous folks." She warned. So are you people, lady.
"Now, why don't y'all go finish checking up on Maybelle?" Brenda suggested. "We should let him rest."
Fuck. no.
"I'll stay with Doug." I stated, sitting down on an armchair in the corner. "Why don't you go get started on dinner, Brenda." I countered.
"Now, now, dear. Why don't we leave the poor thing to rest." Brenda simpered. "People heal best when they're asleep, don't ya know."
Despite repeated attempts, I refused to leave.
A few minutes after Katja left, Lee and Carly visited.
"How's he doing?" Carly asked, immediately be-lining to his side and grabbing a hand.
"He's on morphine for the pain, right now." I replied. "The bolt missed his arteries and bone, just got stuck in the muscle. To be honest, I think his fat layer absorbed most of the hit." I commented with some humor. Some light chuckles later, I continued in a more serious tone.
"Lee, remember what I said before you left the motel?" He nodded.
"Don't let anyone go off alone." He paraphrased.
"And, that I didn't trust the brothers." I continued. "Carly, can you stay with Doug till we leave?" She nodded, then turned to Lee.
"I checked out the barn when you were fixing that swing." She said. I fixed the man with a raised eyebrow, but he just smiled and shrugged. "The room in the back is locked shut. When I got close to the door, Andy warned me off. I think they're hiding something." He nodded, serious.
"I'll check it out. C'mon Clem, let's go outside." He said, innocently and with a stupid grin.
Urgh. Sometimes, it's hard having an attentive guardian. Lee keeps trying to get me to act my age; like with the s'mores and candy. He led me out the door, down the path and pushed me on the swing.
...
The swing was fun, though it didn't last long. Lee got sent off with Danny to check out the 'bandit camp' he spotted in the woods, and I found myself alone.
Hehehehe.
---SaS---
I'm so bored.
There's nothing to do.
Carly's watching Doug. Mark, Kenny and his family are in the barn, Andy and Brenda are cooking a meal.
I can't smell meat. That's good.
I did end up talking to Mark about what happened out by the fences. He mentioned pushing the walkers off the wire, then it turning on when they were outside the fence and the desperate escape from the bandits.
He also mentioned what they'd been shouting. And now, I have an in-universe reason for my suspicion.
Maybe if i keep up these 'gut feelings' that turn out right, people will start believing me from the beginning.
I did end up in their vegetable patch, sneakily grab a dozen potatoes and shoving them in my bag.
What? They had plenty.
---SaS---
When Lee got back with Danny, he pulled me aside again.
"Danny shot a woman we found, just as she was about to say something about the St Johns. He was real evasive when I found some boxes with their family name on them." He confided, eyes scanning for the brothers. I nodded.
"I think they've been trading with the bandits." I said, just as wary of eavesdroppers. "Mark said when he and Doug got attacked, the bandits were shouting 'We had a Deal!' and stuff like that." Lee nodded, rubbing his bearded chin.
"So the St Johns gave stuff to the bandits, probably food, to keep them from raiding the place? Sounds like a 'protection' racket." He reasoned. "The St Johns must have stopped giving them food?" I nodded.
"Maybe they had to cull the other cows to have enough meat to give them." I said. It would make sense, they obviously haven't had enough 'farm hands' to feed themselves AND the bandits.
We made our way to the barn, where Katja was just announcing that Maybelle was pregnant.
"Of course she's pregnant." I said, "Cows only make milk when they're pregnant." And the dairy farmers should know that, as well as all the signs.
"Well, we knew that," Andy had said quickly, "She just seemed out of sorts, and we wanted to make sure she was okay."
Then it was time.
Lee and Kenny were whispering closer to the locked door, so I joined them. I overheard Kenny being just a little racist. Rolling my eyes, I pulled out one of my screwdrivers and held it out to lee. I looked up at him, seriously.
"Unscrew the part of the lock attached to the door." I suggested. "I'll distract Andy."
The two adults shared a glance, then nodded at me. "You got it, Clem." Kenny said.
I went back outside, trying to look bored. Andy gave me a weird glance as I passed him, but went back to keeping an eye on Kenny and Lee.
I unscrewed the panel on the side of the generator, then really quickly turned it off and slipped the cambelt free. I closed the panel and screwed it in a few times, then rushed over to the swing. By the time Andy went to check it, I was idly going back and forth, looking out over the fields.
After a minute, i went back into the barn, past the frustrated Andy. He'd found the loose panel and was looking around for the belt he assumed had flung out.
Inside, I found the back door open, and almost everyone looking inside.
Blood everywhere.
Now, you could argue that this is normal, that it's expected even, for a farm who slaughtered their cattle, to have a place to do it. But there were a few things that damned them.
Bear traps without unlocking mechanisms, which Lee and Kenny recognized.
Hooks and chains, covered in blood.
An freezer, clean but empty of everything but a few salt blocks.
Very quickly we cleared out and closed the door, making it look, superficially, like we hadn't touched it.
When the dinner bell rang, I felt sick to my stomach. Because I could smell dinner.
It smelt like beef.
---SaS---
"Where did they get meat?" I asked Lee as we all walked up to the house. He and Kenny both hung back, with me. "They only have one cow, where did they get the meat?" I repeated. I knew where, though.
When we got inside, Brenda was setting the table with places for everyone. Counting the placemats, though, there were two missing.
No.
"I need to use the little girls room." I said, quickly.
"Just across the hall!" Brenda called, as people sat down.
I closed the dining room door, looked up at Lee, then we both rushed upstairs.
Doug and Carly were gone.
"Where'd they go?" Lee asked, starting to look horrified as realization set in.
"Lee! Help me!" I ran to the wardrobe and pulled it aside. "This wasn't here before, it was a bathroom!"
We pulled the wardrobe aside, and I threw open the door.
I was too late.
Carly was tied in the in the corner, gagged and missing her gun. She looked at us with wide eyes, tears streaming down her face.
Doug was still alive, but...
His legs were gone.
I Screamed.
In pain, and hurt.
And in Anger.
"NOOOOOOO! DOUG! YOU MONSTERS!" I broke down, sobbing.
"Jesus Christ!" Lee exclaimed. He rushed in, to let Carly loose. Squeaking chairs and thumping steps signaled that everyone else was running to join us.
I pulled my pistol out and, with what I assume was murder in my eyes, I stared down Andy as he entered the room.
"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't shoot you now." I growled down the iron sights of my gun.
Andy raised his arms.
"Woah! Hold on there, Little lady." He said, but he didn't stop approaching me.
He stopped when I shifted my grip and shot right past his head, the bullet hitting the roof behind him. In fact, he froze. The next second, I heard Lee and Carly emerge. They flanked me, Lee with his own pistol out and pointed at the man.
"Over by the wall, sicko!" Lee ordered, motioning with his gun.
"Jesus, Lee, What's going on?" Kenny asked, finally through the door.
"They butchered Doug. They cut his legs off, and were going to feed him to you!" Carly with rage in her voice.
"What?" "Oh my God." "So, the meat we could smell..."
"Now what in tarnation is going on in he-" Brenda said, trying to bustle her way past the group. She was stopped by a gun in her face. Kenny had pulled his rifle from his back, the barrel hovering between Brenda's eyes. He, very deliberately, flicked the safety off. Mark had done the same to Danny, who was also quickly divested of his own rifle. Katja, with a 'Stay here ducky', bundled past us and into the bathroom.
"Oh my god! Doug!" She cried.
With confirmation, Kenny growled.
"You absolute sickos! Where do you get off trying to feed us our friend, huh?" He shouted. I saw the hint of the man he could become in his eyes. In that resolute look.
"What made you even think you could get away with this?" Lee asked, also with rage in his tone. "We're all armed, Lilly and Larry are still at the motel. Why!?"
Brenda and Danny joined Andy over by the wall. My aim hadn't shifted from Andy's forehead. The man hadn't stopped looking at me either.
He looked Terrified.
"He was gonna die anyway," Danny reasoned, "Now or later, he wasn't hard enough to make the tough decisions."
"He doesn't NEED to be!" Carly shouted in his face. "I love that man for his kindness, for his softness!"
"Clem! I need your help!" Katja called.
"Coming!" I replied. Breaking my staring contest with Andy, I handed my gun to Carly. She gladly took over pointed the gun at the man who, I assumed, butchered her boyfriend.
Thankfully, the St Johns at least knew how to keep a man alive as they butchered him. As they kept going on and on about their philosophy and reasoning, about how meat taken from a dead human was 'tainted' and foul.
We did our best, but there was a whole fucking bathtub full of his blood right next to us.
Like the man earlier that day, Doug passed from blood loss.
Katja sighed, as she couldn't find a pulse. She shook her head.
"He's gone." I called, "We couldn't save him." The group cursed the St Johns.
"Carly." I said, pulling on her army-issue jacket. She looked down at me. "We need to destroy his brain, or he'll come back." I tried to speak evenly, but I know my voice tremored. She looked devastated, but nodded.
After a quick goodbye, she shot the corpse of the kindest, friendliest man we knew in the head.
---SaS---
And so, we left the house. Each St John was taken outside one by one. Not once was there a gun untrained on all of the cannibal family members.
We'd tied their hands behind their backs and put them up against the side of the house, lined up ready for a firing squad. Katja attempted to stop me from joining the firing line, but my glare obviously convinced her.
Lee spoke for the group.
"Brenda, Andrew and Daniel St John; you have committed dozens of cold-blooded murders, with the intent to eat the remains. You have then followed through with this intent, culminating in attempting to feed us the flesh and blood of one of our own that you have murdered." He attempted to make if official. Make it a sentence, rather than just mindless revenge. The anger in his tone revealed it for what it was. Though, is it really a Kangaroo court if the defendants have confessed?
"Prison isn't an option, as society has broken down. Imprisoning you ourselves would take time, effort, and resources we aren't willing to waste on you. Community service isn't an option, for the same reason." He continued.
"That leaves only two options." He said, as the generator ran out of fuel behind us.
"Death by firing squad, or facing a crowd of your peers, the walkers." We could hear the fences breaking down, the mindless, cannibalistic corpses
"Make your choice in ten seconds, or we shoot you anyway. Ten. Nine." The St Johns begged for their lives, Katja covered Ducks ears and turned him away.
"Two. One." He pause another second. "Fire."
With five guns aimed at them, only three needed to be hits.
I felt a visceral satisfaction in my gut as my shot destroyed the Cannibal Andy St John's left cheekbone, while Carly's shot hit him in the right eye.
When we trudged home that night, it was a solemn affair. Doug was carried by Kenny and Lee on a make-shift stretcher.
We encountered no abandoned cars on the way home.
The whole time, I knew.
I knew this was my fault
When we finally got back to the hotel, we were cold, tired, in shock and grieving.
"Where have you been?!" Lilly demanded as we approached the gate. She was up on the balcony, keeping watch. "Dad and I were about to come out and find your asses. The hell took you so.. long..." her voice trailed off when we got close enough for her to see the looks on our faces, and stopped when she saw the sheet-wrapped body on the stretcher. A quick scan of our faces told her all she needed to know.
"What happened?" She asked quietly with an apologetic tone.
"The St John's were Cannibals." I answered from the head of the funeral procession. "It didn't work out."
---SaS---
The next morning, Lee and Kenny started digging a grave behind the motel. Carly and I spent a few hours carving Doug's name, birth and death date, and a message into a wooden cross.
We held a small ceremony, and lowered him into the grave, next to the nameless woman.
We spent the day grieving, coming to terms with what had happened and what we'd done in response.
That night, the adults got piss-drunk.
At least Katja made sure Duck went to bed early.
It was the next day, 94 days since the start of the apocalypse, when we started being productive again.
"We need to prepare." I'd said to the group as we were eating breakfast. Most of the adults were nursing hangovers, and just looked at me, confused.
"There is a whole bandit group set up near Macon, in the Save-Lots outside of town. They were extorting the St John's for food," I continued, getting nods. "We can assume their group is a lot bigger than ours, and if they needed food, then they've already exhausted their own food stores." I waved towards the forest, in the general direction of the dairy.
"They will go back to the dairy, and they will see the St John's were executed, never mind that they saw Mark and... Doug... there." I said.
"They will find us, and we need to be ready."
---SaS---
The first order of business was to make the Motel more defensible. The balcony's rail was hastily reinforced and barriers were made to hide behind. Everyone kept their weapons on them at all times.
On the sixth day post the St John incident, the 13th of November, Ben was killed.
He'd offered to take night watch. I think he felt he needed to prove himself or something, after all the work he'd seen us doing.
The first thing we knew about it was a gunshot in the early hours of the morning.
The moon was in it's first quarter, and it wasn't exactly the brightest night, but we had drilled for this. Guns were loaded and cocked, safeties off in less than twenty seconds. As the ones with the upstairs rooms, Carly, Lee and I all got a great view of Ben crumpled on top of the van, a pool of blood growing around him.
A much more hasty or ill-aimed crossbow bolt hit the reinforced balcony rail and we quickly took cover. As the others emerged, the three of us shot blindly into the trees across the street, providing covering fire.
I really wish we had a way to see them, a floodlight would have made that so much easier.
When Kenny and Larry brought out the heavy machine gun and started lighting up the tree line, well.
Lets just say the attack didn't last much longer.
We'd only known Ben for seven days, but it sent a message.
We didn't know if he'd just been inattentive, fallen asleep, if he'd seen them and was about to shout, but he'd still died to a headshot.
The next day, we buried him with Doug and the woman. We threw the eight bandits we killed into a pile and burned them with all the walkers who'd been drawn to the attack.
We also took their weapons and ammo.
What? You gotta be pragmatic.
Mark and Lee drove to Warner Robins to loot it. Did you know the place wasn't just a military base? It was a whole freaking town, about half as big as Macon. We had more food and medicine, but the bandits must have finished looting the military base, because it was picked clean.
Carly started spending a lot more time with Lee and I.
The bandits raided us another two times, three days apart. All they accomplished was losing more men. After their disastrous first attack, they retreated after one of their own died, but it still wore us down to stay on alert all the time.
On the 21th of November, the day after the third attack, the RV spluttered to life for the first time.
There was much rejoicing, though no one was dumb enough to get drunk, that'd just give the bandits an opportunity.
We'd already packed the RV with some supplies, but with this it started in earnest. Fuel, Food and not much else. If all Ele... Nine... Of us, wanted to get out in this thing, we couldn't take up too much space with supplies. A dozen jerry cans of fuel were stored on the roof, all the cupboards were stuffed with food.
The next day, while we were making our final preparations to leave, the bandits made their final effort to stop us.
---SaS---
Day 107: The 22nd of November
"Kenny! Did you get the-" Katja was interrupted by her husband.
"Yeah, Yeah! I did. It's in the RV." He waves it off, making a final inspection of the RV's engine.
"Clem, you got the walkies?" Carly asked me as we watched the group getting ready from the balcony. Lee, Mark and Lilly were all on watch, looking for the slightest movement.
"Of course." I replied, "I've got one, Lee's got the other." It was a little entertaining to see everyone double and triple-checking they had everything they needed. "You know that, so why ask?"
Well, it was for a good reason.
"I know, I know. I just..." She paused trying to find the words. "I don't want to lose anyone else" She admitted.
"Losing Doug was... Hard. Ben's death wasn't as bad, as terrible as that sounds. We just... Didn't know him that well." She elaborated, "But loosing Lee, or Kenny, or Mark or... Or one of you kids?" She shivered. "I don't know what I'd do." I smiled sadly, and put an hand on her arm.
"We're going to be fine." I said.
Of course, that's when the assault began.
"Movement!" Mark shouted, getting a crossbow bolt from the bushes as a reply. The bolt slammed into the wall he was kneeling behind, and the battle was joined. The shouted warning gave plenty of time for people to dive for cover.
It was lucky we did, because a couple dozen crossbow bolts, as well as at lest ten guns fired, peppering our defenses.
"RETURN FIRE!" Lilly commanded. As we fired into the tree line, Katja and Duck made a break for the RV. Kenny slammed the hood of the RV shut and joined the defense. After that first volley, the bandits kept up the pressure, firing individually rather than in waves.
Carly and I made our way along the balcony and down the staircase. Another burst of return fire gave us enough breathing room to sprint to cover behind the RV, joining Larry.
Lilly, Mark and Lee, retreated from the peppered walls for the second line of defense.
The bandits, emboldened, burst from the cover of the trees and rushed the motel's walls.
Five died in the process.
A volley of bolts and bullets caused us all to duck. They'd been avoiding firing on the RV, probably hoping they could capture it after they'd dealt with us.
In the next break, Lee made it to the RV. Then Lilly.
Then the screams started.
I don't know why they didn't prep for this, but their rear-guard was set upon by the walkers drawn to the gunfire. The Bandits at the left gate pushed it in, opening a gap for them to get in and take cover behind our own defenses.
Mark, on the right side, was under threat of being flanked.
"Come on, Mark!" I shouted, Waving my hands. "Quickly!"
He took one last shot, before he rushed towards the RV.
The next thing I knew, Mark was face-down on the ground.
He must have tripped.
"Get up, Mark! We need to go!" I repeated. "Mark! C'mon."
"We gotta go, Clem!" Lee said, trying to pull me towards the RV door.
"Wait! Mark's not here yet!"
"WE GOTTA GO!" Kenny shouted, starting the engine.
"MARK!" I screamed as Lee picked me up.
I looked over his shoulder and caught a glimpse of red pooling under Mark's head.
---SaS---
I think I lost a few minutes, because I was suddenly in the RV and the view outside the windows was full of trees, rushing by.
I was still in Lee's arms, facing out the back window. The motel wasn't in sight. Carly was next to us, rubbing my back gently.
My mind caught up with my memories, and I realized. Mark was dead. He hadn't tripped, he'd been shot and died before he's hit the ground.
Okay. I'll be honest.
I blubbered like a baby.
I gripped Lee tight. He and Carly stared whispering gentle, comforting nothings in my ear.
I didn't register, or care about, what they said, but...
It helped.
The others were quiet. Our party of eight.
I...
I couldn't do it.
I saved Mark, but Doug died instead.
Ben was put on watch way before he was ready.
Mark only ran right that moment, because I told him to.
...
Can I actually save anyone? Are they all just gonna die anyway?
Eventually, I ran out of tears. I closed my eyes and lay there on Lee's shoulder. After a certain point, they must have thought I'd gone to sleep.
"Poor Clem." Carly whispered. "I think that's the first time I've seen her really, you know, break down. She's always seemed so... Resilient." I felt Lee shift. He must have nodded.
"She's a tough cookie." He replied, notes of pride in his voice. His next words were said a bit more sadly. "She thinks her parents didn't make it." Carly hummed in agreement.
"Yeah, she mentioned something like that. I tried to reassure her, but I don't think it worked."
"I feel like she's trying to make sure she doesn't lose anyone else." Lee added. I heard Larry snort.
"Stupid. Ouch!" I assume Lilly elbowed him.
"It's not stupid." The military woman insisted. "Mark was a good man. I'm sure that he died how he would have wanted to; saving us."
The RV lapsed into silence. I think I did drift off to sleep at some point. Or at least, I dozed. As far as I'm aware, we passed the rest of the trip in silence.
We stopped eventually, for a reason I knew quite well. I'd played through this section of the game often enough, after all.
"Well, would you look at that." Kenny said. "A whole damn train, right on the road."
"Well, this is a problem we didn't need." Lilly agreed. "What the hell do we do now?"
---SaS---
The train was as ominous as ever. The engine was a behemoth of cold metal, while the derailed carriages snaked behind it, like a... snake. We all piled out. I sat with Katja, Duck and Carly as the other four adults inspected the train.
I saw Lee and Kenny walking up and down the thing, dealing with the walker in the car on the other side, finding the things necessary to get it working.
They tried to talk to me, a bit. It wasn't fair to them, but I didn't say anything.
I had a new strategy.
I'm not gonna say anything.
If I don't say anything, I can't throw off the timeline, but at least I'll be able to predict events with a bit more accuracy.
No one else was gonna die because of what I've done.
And I'm not gonna say a word about it
Eventually, Carly was called off to help with something about the train. Lee came over a bit later, and kneeled down in front of me.
"Hey Clem." He started. "How're you feeling." I shrugged. He reached over and rubbed the top of my head, messing up my short curls. I frowned at him. He gave a small chuckle at the look on my face.
"We won't be hanging around here long." He mentioned, "We just need to get the train out of the way, and we can keep on moving down the road to Savannah." Maybe he hoped this would cheer me up, but I just shrugged again.
"I'll see you later, Clem." Lee said, giving Katja a glance, then getting up and walking back to the train.
"Is Clem okay, mom?" Duck asked, in that insensitive way kids do.
"She's fine, duck. It's just... She's not happy that Mark couldn't come with us, and needs some quiet time, okay?"
"Okay. Can I go play on the train now?!" He asks, still full of energy. Katja chuckles.
"Okay, Ducky, let's go ask dad. He'll tell us if it's safe."
They walked off, leaving me alone on the log.
I let out a big sigh. This wasn't working.
When Chuck the homeless man sat down next to me, I looked up at him. He looked back down at me and raised an eyebrow.
"You look like you've been through the wars, kid." He commented, taking a sip from his bottle. I shrugged. "Knew a girl 'bout your age. Saw her get torn apart by them monsters." He continued, in an off-handed tone of voice. I just looked back down, at my hands.
"Ah, the silent type, huh? That's okay. You don't hav'ta say nothin." He took a deep breath. "Kid, I won't lie ta you. Your daddy over there asked me to talk to you." I snorted, lightly. Yeah, that sounds like Lee. He chuckled at that.
"He asked me not to tell you." Chuck shrugged, nonchalantly. "But I figure you'd 'preciate it more if I was honest with you." I shrugged again and looked up. He nodded.
"Now, I'm no head-doctor. I got no degree or fancy bit o' paper, I can tell you've got somthin you need to get off your chest. From what I understand, you folks just got chased outta your home by some bandits, and lost a couple of your own. Terrible thing to happen, losing someone." He rambled on, keeping an eye on me. I nodded.
"I've seen some bad things happen too. I've got some hard-earned wisdom, livin' alone in the world as I have. But I think you know what i'm gonna tell ya, don't you?" He asked. I nodded, and spoke.
"It's not the dead you need to worry about." I said, quietly. He nodded.
"That's right. Walkers, you call them? They're stupid. They're dangerous, sure, but they're predictable. The living are who you gotta be wary of." He took another sip from his bottle.
"People keep dying." I whispered, almost silent.
"And you think it's your fault they're dead." Chuck prompted. "It's not." My head whipped around to glare at him. He just smiled.
"I know your type, girl. You prob'ly thought you could get through all this without losing anybody, right?" I looked down again. "That's what I thought. Now, You're prob'ly gonna get mad at me for say'n this, but it's not your fault they died."
"You don't know anything." I replied, a bit of heat in my tone. He nodded.
"Right. I don't know. I don't know the context, I don't know the hows, the wheres or the whys." He admitted. "But let me tell you somethin. They made their own decisions, or other people made their decisions for them. Unless you put a gun to their heads yourself, and pulled the trigger, it 'aint your fault."
I sighed.
Of course I knew it wasn't my fault.
I'm an adult. Or at least I was, before.
I tried my best to get someone to stay with Doug, so he wouldn't be alone with the St Johns. I didn't expect them to be so desperate or stupid that they'd attack Carly, even knowing we were armed and still had people at the motel.
Ben... The only thing I can think of, is that the bandits never contacted him. Or if they did, he turned them down, and they waited for when he was on watch so they could get him while he was exposed, in some kind of revenge.
Mark... I took a deep breath. Mark wasn't my fault. I may have encouraged him to run across, but he chose that moment, and his shooter chose that moment to fire. We're lucky only one person died. In Canon; Katja, Duck, Carly and Lilly were all victims of leaving the motel, one way or another.
"I know it's not my fault." I said, quietly. "That doesn't mean I don't feel bad about it."
He nodded, but smiled.
"You're a smart kid. Good head on your shoulders, tidy hair, and from that bulge in your jacket, you're packing."
"I think you'll be just fine, kid." His cheer was infectious.
I smiled back. Damn Charles. I can't be mad at you.
I turned to face him and held out my little hand. "I'm Clementine, fourth leader of the group." I said firmly.
He took my hand and shook it with his own, much larger, gloved hand. "Nice to meet you, Clementine. I'm Charles, but you can call me Chuck. Fourth leader, huh?" He asked, raising an eyebrow again.
"Well, they might not know about that part," I admitted, "But they listen to what I have to say often enough I may as well be." He chuffed with humor.
"So, y'all a democracy, then?" I made a so-so gesture.
"A republic, more than anything else."
With that, the train's huge engine turned over and began chugging.
"Well, I'll be a monkey's uncle." Chuck exclaimed. "I never thought I'd see this old thing move again!" I shrugged.
"Lee was trying to fix it, so of course he'd get it to work." He's the protagonist, after all. Chuck smiled at me.
"You got a lotta faith in your daddy, there, don't ya." I shook my head.
"He's not my dad." I said, rolling my eyes. "People always say that. We don't even look like each other. He's just trying to make sure I survive. My parents are in Savannah, but they're probably dead." I finished, sadly. No probably about it.
"I'm sorry, Clem." Chuck commiserated. "Don't rightly know where my family's at, haven't seen 'em in fourteen years anyhow..." We watched as the train shifted forward just enough to unblock the road, then stopped. As it powered down, everyone started gathering in front of the RV again.
"C'mon." I said to Chuck, getting up. "We should get going." he raised an eyebrow at me.
"You're just inviting me along?" I smiled. "I feel like you're a good person. My gut hasn't been wrong yet, never mind that you took time out of your day to cheer me up."
"We'd be happy to have you." I said, sticking out my hand again.
He took it. "I've been alone long enough, I reckon."
---SaS---
Everyone else had assembled when Kenny and Lee finally arrived.
"Alright folks, train's out of the way. Let's get back on the road." Kenny said, sounding a bit disgruntled. "I still reckon the train's the better way to go."
"it's too loud, we'd draw a huge amount of walkers. We also don't know what the tracks are like, they might be broken, or blocked further ahead, then what would we do." I commented, getting stunned looks that slowly turned to relieved smiles. Lee chuckled and gave me a side-hug.
"Took the words right outta my mouth, sweetie." He said, looking a lot happier. Kenny rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. I know I'm outvoted. Well, c'mon! If that noise didn't draw every walker in the area, I'll eat my hat."
With that, the group boarded the RV and we rode off along the highway.
I smiled.
Well, Canon was well off the rails now. No train, means no Christa or Omid. Then again, I'm not sure we'd even meet them. It's incredibly unlikely that the timing would end up exactly the same, to let us run into each other. It also means that Savannah won't be overrun with walkers, making our job there much easier.
Just need to find the house with the boat, and make sure Molly doesn't get us killed.
Ha. Leaving the derailed train behind caused a derail. Irony.
Charles fit well into the group, he was kind and respectful, without being judgmental. The only one who didn't really like him was Larry, but Larry didn't like anyone anyway. It was a little crowded, but we made do.
The mood in the RV was a lot more positive than just an hour ago.
---SaS---
We pulled into Savannah in the late afternoon, about an hour and a half before sundown. The highway just outside of town was badly obstructed by cars, so it took another hour to push enough cars out of the way to get the RV through.
So far, the outer neighborhoods had been sparse, walker-wise. The odd corpse wandered about, a few drawn to the RV as we drove by. However, as it got later, and the walker population got denser, we knew we'd have to find somewhere to bunker down for the night.
Kenny was still driving, "It's my RV, I'm driving." He called out when he saw a house that looked defensible, and after a few that were shut down by Lee and Lilly, we found ourselves a temporary base. It was a two-story with a long driveway and high fences. The driveway was clear of cars, and the doors and windows looked intact.
Unlike the canon house, this one didn't have a doggy door, which meant we had to break in the hard way. We were careful not to make too much noise, though, and under the light of the setting sun, we piled into the house.
I quickly advised a night watch be set up, to the agreement of Lee and Lilly. All the adults would take turns in two positions; a back window and a front window. Lee and Lilly agreed to take first watch, Kenny and Carly Second, with Larry and Chuck in the last shift before dawn.
Everyone said goodnight, then split up between the three bedroom house. (Chuck wanted to sleep on the sofa, said he couldn't sleep on a bed. "It'd be too soft." he said.)
I went to sit with Lee for a bit, after everyone was asleep.
"What're you doing up, Sweetie?" Lee asked, looking away from the window.
"Just wanted to talk, a bit." I said, sitting up on the window frame.
"Alright, what about?" Lee said, looking past me, out into the dark of the backyard.
"Why'd you ask Chuck to talk to me?" I asked, curiously. He chuckled.
"You figure that out, or he tell you?"
"He told me."
"Yeah, figured he would." Lee went silent for a bit.
"Sometimes, I feel like you're a lot older than you are." Lee admitted. "It's like I'm talking to one of my old students at the university." I nodded, and he continued. "It's easy to talk to you, and I know you'll understand what I said, but I know that's not normal. You're eight years old-"
"Nine" I interrupted. "My birthday was on the fifth." What? I liked Clem when I played the game, so I looked her up on the wiki. There's some things that are really hard to figure out without using every single option in there.
"Nine years old," Lee corrected with a smile, "You were in elementary school, I shouldn't feel like I'm talking to someone just a decade younger than me. But I do."
"Mom always said I had an old soul." I lied as easily as I breathed. Lee nodded.
"Exactly! You're a lot more mature than Duck, even though he's a couple of years older than you." He shook his head. "You see what I mean? I wouldn't be talking to another nine year old like this." I nodded.
"Yeah, I get it."
"But anyway," He continued, "My point is... After we lost Mark, seeing you act like a nine year old was a little jarring. I didn't know how to talk to you about it. So, after Chuck introduced himself and we talked for a bit, I asked him to talk to you. I don't know what you talked about, though." he looks a little sheepish.
I hugged him.
"Thanks for looking out for me, Lee." I said, with a big smile. Lee, awkward around kids as he is, was doing his best.
He hugged me back. "No problem, Clem."
---SaS---
The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and tried to donate Chuck one of our guns. He shook his head, and pulled a revolver from his jacket.
"I've got my own, though thank ye for the offer." He'd said. "I will say though, we'd be better off with something for close-range. It's a lot quieter. You get me?" Everyone pulled out a screwdriver, or revealed their military-issue CQC knives.
Chuck blinked in surprise, then nodded. "Yup, That'd do it. I'd prefer something with a bit more range, though. If you end up cornered, one little knife ain't gonna save ya."
The backyard held a shed, which when looted revealed a shovel, which Chuck deemed fit for him. Lee collected his old fire-axe from the RV and Kenny went without, commenting he wouldn't need one.
With no more delays Lee, Kenny and Chuck all set out for the docks.
It was as we waved them off that I realized something. We were in a completely different area to canon; a different part of town. The people who lived in these houses likely couldn't afford to own a boat.
Finding the boat was going to be harder than I thought