"I cant believe this! How could they seriously turn down 2 kids, just cause of a bit of a "space problem"?!" The Floridan man, Kenny, gruffly ranted as he walked away from the gigantic walls of Wellington. Clementine followed behind the enraged man, carrying the sleeping form of AJ.
"Kenny, keep your voice down. You'll attract walkers. Not to mention, you could wake AJ, which would attract more walkers!" Clementine snapped, soothing the stirring child.
"Sorry, darlin'. I just can't believe they turned us down. All that walking, everyone we lost, was for nothing!" Kenny grumbled.
"I'm sure they probably had a space problem. You would too if you announced to the survivors of a zombie apocalypse that you had a safe haven…" Clementine muttered, quickening her pace to catch up to the fuming man.
"Well, what now? We're almost out of food, we have no more meds, we're down to the last clip of ammo, and we're stuck in fucking Ohio!" Kenny shouted once again, his voice lower than last time.
"We could always head back to Howe's…" Clementine mumbled, her voice barely audible.
"Howe's?! That hellhole?! Clem, why in the hell would you ever want to go back there?!" Kenny questioned, turning towards the 10-year-old.
"It had walls, electricity! For god's sakes Kenny, think rationally for a second. There could be a bit of food, meds, ammo, even things for AJ there! The walkers will have dissipated by now, and we could take the store back!" Clementine shouted, as she bumped past the older man.
"Who's to say there isn't already another group there?! What if approach them and they gun me down, and do god knows what to you and AJ?!" Kenny growled, running after the child.
"We'll never know if we don't go back!" Clementine snapped back. She continued walking, before feeling a strong arm grab her on the shoulder and halt her.
"I know what you mean, and I'm sorry for snapping, but I just don't trust it. You know I'd die for you two, but I don't want my death to be in vain, you know what I mean?" Kenny explained, kneeling in front of Clementine.
"I understand Kenny. Its just… you can be so stubborn sometimes." Clementine complained, looking Kenny in the eyes.
"And that's one of my major flaws. Add it to the list" Kenny chuckled, before turning away from the 2 children.
"Alright, lets get to Howe's then"
"What about this place?"
"I don't know, Whole lotta walkers around it"
"Well yeah, but the more walkers, the more supplies"
"True"
"And, it's a hardware store. There's bound to be some pesticides and all that left I can use here"
"Fine, lets clear it out"
"Are we there yet?" Clementine giggled, turning towards Kenny.
"Clementine, darlin', I love ya and all, but for the love of god don't start that shit with me" Kenny laughed as the trio trekked through the woods. It had been three days since they departed Wellington, and the journey back was almost as hard as the trip there. Clementine went to ask, 'are we there yet' again, when a familiar sight came into view.
"Kenny, look! Parkers Run!" Clementine beamed, picking up her pace.
"Finally, a stroke of luck for once" Kenny mumbled, following the child. The camp itself was empty, but provided some shelter from the night air.
"Well, I guess we can hole up here for the night before we head out towards Howe's. Should be a couple miles from here" Kenny yawned, entering one of the tents. Clementine followed suite, sitting at the back of the tent.
"You two get some sleep, ill keep watch" Kenny motioned towards two sleeping bags in the middle of the tent.
"You need sleep too Kenny. We can just tie the flap shut before we go to sleep" Clementine explained, slipping under the covers of the sleeping bag.
"See? This is why I keep ya around. Those kinda things, I don't normally think about" Kenny chuckled, tying a piece of the tent around the pole.
"Alright Clem, get some rest. We got a long trek ahead of us tomorrow…"
"Well, that took longer than expected" Kris chuckled, wiping his bloodied hands down his apron.
"You got that right, I don't even know how so many got in" Jake mumbled, pulling a blunt screwdriver from a walker's skull.
"The fortifications on this place are still pretty strong. We reinforce them, we can hole up here for a bit" Kris smiled, inspecting the interior of the store.
"That's true. Ill go see what I can do about the loading bay door, see if I can shut it. Either that or we board off the whole bay…" Jake pointed out, opening the door to the bay.
"I'll give you a hand" Kris offered, following after his friend. The two entered the loading bay, when their jaws dropped and they looked in horror at the bloodied corpse before them. The corpse was fresh, and the skull had been completely caved in.
"Jesus fucking Christ, what happened to him?!" Kris shouted, bile filling his throat.
"I don't know, but whatever happened, he got fucked up" Jake joked, before turning and vomiting on the ground.
"You'd think we'd be used to this shit, but apparently not" Kris noted, before approaching the large shutters of the loading bay. He inspected the doors before noticing the tracks were bent out of shape and the door had bangs and dings in it.
"The doors fucked. Someone mustve backed into it. Its not going anywhere" Kris groaned, before walking out of the bay and into the store.
"Well, we'll get as much as we can out of there, and board off the bay I guess" Jake explained, closing the door.
"Yeah, good idea" Kris mumbled
The shrill sound of crying woke Clementine in an instant, as she coddled the infant between the two of them.
"Shhh, AJ. Its ok, shhh" Clementine soothed, rubbing the babies head.
"AJ upset again?" Kenny mumbled from beside the pair.
"Yeah, he's probably hungry" Clementine yawned, as she donned her treasured heirloom.
"Welp, might as well get up and get going, right?" Kenny sighed, as he sat up and stretched.
"Do we have any formula left?" Clementine asked, still trying to calm the infant down.
"Nope, used the last of it before bed. We're fresh out" Kenny groaned, standing up.
"Well, then we better get a move on. Let's hope there's still formula at Howe's" Clementine sighed, exiting the cramped tent. She stretched her legs before turning to Kenny, nodding. The two then departed the camp, with Kenny carrying AJ.
"Hey Kenny? We should check out the war museum nearby. We might be able to find some food or water.
"Sounds good. Lets head out then" Kenny nodded, leading the way.
Hours had passed before the war museum came into sight. Kenny sighed in relief, being glad they didn't get lost. Clementine looted the museum while Kenny watched AJ. Before they left, they headed through the museum into the parking lot. They looted a few vehicles, finding little to nothing of use.
"Hold on a second Kenny" Clementine stopped, and turned towards a lone motorcycle sitting in the parking lot of the war museum.
"What's up?" Kenny asked, turning around.
"I wanna check out that bike. I've never ridden one, even if it doesn't work" Clementine explained,
"Fair enough. Go ahead kiddo" Kenny nodded, leaning against a car. Clementine grinned and thanked the man before running to the black steed. She inspected the full bike, before climbing onto it. To her, the bike looked monstrous. She placed both hands on the handlebars, and pretended she was riding on it. She did this for a few moments before noticing the keys in the ignition. She thought for a moment before shrugging
"Might as well" Clementine figured, before clutching the key and turning it. A low spluttering was heard before it turned into a full rev. The sudden start startled Clementine, but she quickly regained her composure, looking extremely giddy.
"Holy crap… Kenny, the bike works!" Clementine shouted to the man in excitement. Kenny's head snapped towards Clementine before his grin spread so far, Clem thought his face would burst.
"Holy shit, it actually works?!" Kenny exclaimed, unable to hide his excitement. Clementine nodded furiously, before turning towards the bike again. She checked the fuel gauge, seeing it still had half a tank of gas. She also noticed 2 bags hanging off the back of the bike. In one was 2 black helmets, while the other had a red gas can and a tarp in it.
"This is an awesome find! We can make Howe's in an hour or 2!" Kenny laughed excitedly, handing AJ to Clementine. Clementine scooted back far enough for Kenny to sit in the front, before grabbing the two helmets and handing one to Kenny. She then took off her hat and sat it back in the bags before donning the helmet. Kenny looked back to the child, who gave him a thumbs up. He took a hold of the handle bars, revved the engine a few times, before the bike shot off. Clementine felt as though she was about to fall off, but kept a tight grip on Kenny and AJ. The wind whipped around them as they shot off from the museum, and drove onwards towards Howe's Hardware.
*A.N. Apologies for all the random breaks in the story. Since there's 2 different things happening at once, with Kenny and Clementine, and Kris and Jake, I felt as though a few cuts was necessary. Once the 2 groups collide, since they're both gonna try to hole up at Howe's, there may be less random cutting and chopping.
Cya's,
Exfinity
