TWD Fanfic: Lee's Second Chance - Ch 5 Part 2

CHAPTER 5 – Familiar Faces

Part 2

We ran through the woods. The whole time all I could think about was getting Parker to Katjaa. I’m not entirely sure if he passed out from blood loss or an infection in the bullet wound. Either way, if I could save his life and increase our numbers…

“Hey, where are we going? You’re not taking us anywhere suspicious are you!?” Travis asked, staring at me.

“Suspicious? No, we’re taking you to a nearby Motel. We have a group stationed there. And the name’s Lee. Not ‘Hey’.” I replied.

I took a look at Mark who seemed to be struggling slightly with Parker. Mark didn’t say his name so I decided to introduce him, “And he’s Mark.”

Mark looked at Travis and Ben and said, whilst panting, “H-how’s… How’s it goin’”

Ben spoke, “I’m Ben. Ben Paul. He’s Travis.”

Travis scowled at Ben. Ben looked at Travis for a minute and then tilted his head downward. Aren’t these two friends?

Ben continued and nodded at Parker, “A-and he’s Mister Parker. He’s our band director.”

I saw an opening in the trees and started to slow down to a steady pace. Whilst walking, Travis and Ben continued to tell me and Mark their story.

Travis, seemingly less aggravated, “We all came from Stone Mountain.”

“Stone Mountain? The High School?” Mark asked, turning his head slightly.

“Y-yeah. There were more of us but…” Ben trailed off.

“They’re all dead. We’re the only ones left. There… There were so many of us… If only we still had everyone to fight those guys.” Travis said.

Mark looked at them, slightly confused, then turned his head back to me and raised an eyebrow. I shook my head in a dismissive way and went to the opening. I walked out onto the tarmac road just outside the Motel. I waved my arms up at Lilly, who was sitting on top of a large RV.

Lilly was having us take turns watching over the road and forest leading to the Motor Inn. Every few hours one of us was picked to sit atop the RV. We’d get given a chair, for relaxing, and a rifle, for protecting. Whoever was up there was then in charge of alerting anyone of any ‘Suspicious activity’.

“Get the gates open Lilly!” I said, loudly and calmly.

Lilly showed a faint smile as she stood up from her chair. Suddenly the smile faded away as she saw Mark come out of the trees with Parker, Ben and Travis. She then shook her head and climbed down from the RV.

I walked over to the dumpsters we were using as ‘gates’ and pushed them out of the way. Everyone started to gather around as Mark walked in with Parker. Clementine ran up to me, “Are you okay?”

I knelt down to speak to her, “Yeah, Clem. I’m fine.”

Katjaa stared at me, “Lee, what happened?”

Katjaa was standing next to Kenny’s pickup. Mark walked over to the pickup with Parker and placed him down. Travis and Ben walked in visibly nervous and unsure of what to do. Clem looked at them for a second, and then looked back at me. I nodded my head and Clementine nodded hers. She then walked over to Ben and Travis and started talking to them. Clementine took Ben away from everyone and had him play with her and Duck the first time. I’m not entirely sure what’ll happen next but having those two out of the way will make things easier and clearer.

Clementine grabbed Ben’s hand and pulled him over. Travis frowned and crossed his arms, following.

I stood up and looked at Katjaa, “We found these guys out in the woods. One of them has been shot but other than that they seem to be alright… Well alright as you can be after losing your whole entire class to those things.”

“Wow, I hope this isn’t dinner.” Doug said, walking over with Carley.

“Well with the right seasoning, I’m sure they’d taste just like chicken.” Carley said, rather comically.

“I’m pretty sure if we were to eat people, they’d taste like pork more than anything else, Carley.” Mark added, seriously.

“Are we seriously having this discussion?” I said to him.

Mark suddenly looked uneasy.

“Mark? Is something wrong?” I asked him.

“Huh? Nothing… It’s… I just felt like someone walked over my grave.”

“Guh… I hate that.” Carley said.

I turned around to see where Lilly was and saw her standing quite closely, arms crossed and expression angry. Larry was standing next to her.

“Hey, Lilly.” I said, raising my hand to say hi.

“Lee… What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“Lending a helping hand.” I said, straight forwardly.

“There’s a difference between giving a “helping hand” and bringing people back without any reason.”

“Lilly, they needed our help. That’s enough reason” Mark said.

“We’re not responsible for everyone trying to survive out there. We have to look out for ourselves!”

“So what? You want to throw them out?” I asked.

“No I--”

I frowned at Lilly, “No, go ahead. Let’s throw them out, one with a leg wound, the other two practically being kids. We’ll just throw them out and pretend that we didn’t give them a death sentence.”

Larry looked at me, “Hmph. Now you’re thinking logically.”

Lilly stared at her dad, “Dad… why don’t you get back to working on the fence?”

Larry let out a small grunt and walked over to the fence.

“I should probably help out…” Mark said looking at me. He then joined Larry in working on the fence.

Lilly placed her hand on her forehead and sighed, “I guess there’s no helping it. But bare this in mind. The more people we get, the more people we need to feed. They may be young but talk to those two about hunting and keeping watch. That is if they’re planning to stay.”

I turned to look toward both Ben and Travis who were currently idly standing around. I turned back to Lilly, “I don’t think they’ll be wanting to leave anytime soon.”

There was a brief moment of silence until Lilly asked, “Where’s Kenny?”

“Most likely, still out there hunting with Ruscoe. And seeing as we didn’t catch anything it’d be good if they could.” I replied.

“Okay… I’ll get back on watch. Remember to talk to those kids. Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Lilly walked back over to the RV and got on top of it. I then looked at Clementine who was standing behind me. I looked at her hair quickly. A few months back I cut her hair and tied the remaining pieces back into pigtails. Now her hair had grown out and the pigtails had become huge.

“Lee?” Clementine said.

“What is it sweet pea?” I asked.

Clementine glanced over to Katjaa and Parker. I knew straight away what she was thinking, “Don’t worry. He won’t die.”

Clementine looked at me, with a somewhat hopeful expression, “Really?”

“Yeah, really.” I smiled to reassure her. “It’s just a small bullet wound; Katjaa will be able to fix him up in no time.”

Clementine smiled and swayed slightly. She was obviously happy.

“What’s with you, honey?” I asked.

“Everyone’s a lot happier than before.”

“Yeah… We’re eating regularly. No one’s starving. Nobody has died yet. If we keep being careful, I’m sure that everything will turn out okay… well, okay as it can be in this situation.”

Suddenly from behind us I heard a loud ringing, Isn’t that Doug’s alarm system? But who could it…

End of Chapter 5 – Familiar Faces

To be continued in Chapter 6 - Confrontation