Chapter One: In the bushes
It had been 3 months since the group arrived at the motor inn. Everyone felt safe there, well as safe as you could feel during a zombie apocalypse. In the middle of the motor inn was an RV, which the group members would take turns sitting on top of and keep watch with a riffle. Today Lee had the first shift.
As he sat on top of the RV he looked down at Clementine, smiling and watching her and Duck kick the soccer ball back and forth. As much as he wanted to go down there and join them, he couldn't he had to stay on his watch or he would have to suffer listening to Lilly lecture him. Suddenly he heard someone climbing up the ladder of the RV behind him, causing him to turn around quickly. To his relief, it was only Carley. "Hey Carley" he greeted.
"Hey" she reached the top of the RV and sat down on the roof next to his chair. "How's your watch going?"
"Good I haven't seen anything so far, which is good." He smiled looking at Carley, he really did enjoy her company. He may even have a little crush on her, but he wasn't going to say anything, he didn't want to ruin their good friendship.
"What?" She laughed, noticing him smiling at her. She felt the same way as he did, but they both just didn't know it yet.
Lee, realizing that he had been smiling at her, shook his head. "It's nothing" he chuckled "just glad it's been a relatively peaceful day."
"Yeah, I hear ya." Carley replied, then looking down at clementine and Duck, who were playing and laughing. "I'm glad they're finally having some fun around here. Good thing you found that soccer ball on your run."
"Yeah, me too. I-" Before he could finish he was interrupted by a loud gunshot that sounded fairly close by. "Shit.." He mumbled, aiming his riffle at the front gate.
"That gunshot sounded pretty close to us, let me go check on everyone and see if they saw anything." Carley offered while climbing down the ladder.
"Thanks." Lee said still aiming at the front gate, not wanting anyone to sneak in or hurt anyone.
"Carley!" Clementine ran over to the small woman and grabbed her hand. "W-what was that?" She asked in fear, hoping no one was hurt.
Carley held Clementines hand, knowing that Lee was busy. "It was a gunshot, don't worry no one was hurt." She stated, hoping to have calmed the young girl in some way. "Do you want to come with me to ask the others if they saw anything?"
Clementine nodded, she loved helping figure things out, or with just anything. It made her feel like she was one of the adults and she felt more mature. "We're a team, Lee too." She said smiling.
"Yes we are." Carley smiled back. She was about to ask where Duck was when she saw Katjaa, already comforting him. As Carley led Clementine over to Lilly, they passed Larry who was still working on the wall, seeming to be unfazed about what they had all heard. "Hey, Lilly did you hear that?" She asked as they approached Lilly sitting on one of the lawn chairs looking at the front gate.
Lilly looked at Carley, glad someone else heard it too. "Yeah, it sounded really close, then I heard a ruffle in the bushes over there." She said as she pointed over to the fairly large bush not to far from the motel.
"Think we should go check it out?" Carley didn't really like working with Lilly, but if it would prevent something bad from happening to the group, she was willing to.
"Yeah, good idea. I'm not dealing with some bandits or shit like that." Lilly growled as she got up and walked over to a bin full of some weapons to grab a gun.
"Swear." Clementine said innocently, and looked up at Carley "Can I come with you guys?"
She was glad that Clementine wanted to help but didn't want to put the little girl at risk of getting seriously hurt, if that person had a gun it definitely would not be safe. "Clem, I think you should stay here, it's a little too dangerous for you to go out there. For all we know there could be walkers." Carley said as she ruffled Clementines black curly hair. "But if you want to help, I think Lee would love to have you help him keep watch, why don't you go up there on the RV with him?"
Clementine sighed slightly that she couldn't go with Carley and Lilly to see what was going on, but she was glad she could help Lee, he was like her second father. She was not trying to replace her parents at all but she had just considered him a father figure, no longer having hers with her. "Okay, will you walk me over? I'm kind of scared." Which she was, she was afraid someone would burst through the gate at any moment and start killing her friends, or her.
"Of course, and don't worry no one is going to get in. I promise you that." Carley said, putting her arm around Clementine and started walking with her towards Lee. She was definitely not going to let anyone get in and hurt that child, or anyone else for that matter.
Lee watched as the two girls approached him, still holding his gun. "Everything okay?" He asked wondering if they had found anything out.
"Yeah, Lilly and I are going to go check things out, Clementine wants to know if she can help you on your watch." Carley let go of Clementine and let her climb up the ladder to Lee.
"Of course, but are you sure you guys don't need me to go?" Asked Lee as he received a hug from Clementine, and returned it.
"Lilly will be pissed if no one is on watch, you know that." She said as she saw Lilly walking over from the corner of her eye.
"Yeah, I would be. Are you two done gossiping now? Or would you like me to just wait an hour until you're done" Lilly sarcastically said, she was not in the best mood, she just wanted to get it over with.
"Actually.." Lee sarcastically said back, when he was stopped by Carley.
"Lee, just don't." She said, wanting to laugh but knew that would only make Lilly angrier, and now was not the time for drama.
Outside of the motor inn...
Carley and Lilly crept quietly over to the bush, crouching behind a trash bin. "So, what's the plan?" Carley asked quietly in a whisper, her brown eyes looking at the surroundings around them, making sure no one was sneaking up on them.
Lilly just crept closer to the bush, motioning for Carley to follow her, which she did. As they approached the bush they saw two men sitting and looking into the motor inn, both Lilly and Carley gave each other a side glare and nodded as they both got ready to each take one of the men out.
Carley was the first to take action grabbing the man, and putting her gun to his head, she wasn't going to shoot yet. What if they weren't the cause of the gunshot? She thought.
Then Lilly followed Carleys actions and asked loudly, "who the hell are you?"
"And what the fuck are you doing outside of the motor inn just staring? What was that gunshot?" Carley added. The man she was holding was struggling trying to get out of her grip, but she wasn't letting go. They couldn't be bandits, they didn't have masks like the other ones they had seen so, who were they? And what did they want?
The man Lilly was holding somehow got out of her grip and grabbed Lilly pinning her to the brick wall outside of the motor inn, when all of a sudden another gunshot was heard, and the man fell to the ground, Carley and Lilly both looked to the source of the noise, relieved to see it was Lee, but worried because the noise might have attracted walkers.
"What the hell?!" The man in Carleys grip shouted. "You don't even know us and you're just going to kill us?" He argued still attempting to get away.
"What were you doing outside of our motor inn?" Carley asked again, getting irritated, not having her question answered.
"We were just going to ask for some food!" He answered "that's all!"
"Really? Then explain that gunshot, and that gun laying over there in the bushes." Lilly argued back.
Knowing he had no other options he gave in. "Okay we were going to shoot the person on watch and steal supplies, but my friend is a horrible shot, and missed terribly. Then we ran into the bushes to hide."
"So you are one of those bandits.. Shoot him Carley!" Lilly ordered, not caring what happened to this man.
As Carley tightened her finger on the trigger, he elbowed her in the side hardly, and she slid backwards slightly, causing the bullet to go into his shoulder instead of head. The man still, fell to the ground groaning as Carley tackled him and pointed the gun to his forehead, putting a bullet straight through his brain.
"Lets get back inside before walkers show up." Lilly said, grabbing the two mens guns. And walking towards the gate.
"Yeah I just hope they don't have more planning to show up. " Carley walked through the gates and over to Clementine and Lee. "Thanks for helping us." She smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. "Nice shot, by the way."
Lee smiled at the compliment and was slightly dazed by her touch. "No problem, couldn't let you get hurt. "
"And, I'd like to talk later, when you've got a minute." Carley smiled and walked away to explain to the others what had just happened. She really hoped it could turn peaceful for the rest of the day, but somehow doubted it.
"Alright clem, it's safe to go back to playing, thanks for helping me on watch you were a big help." Lee praised Clementine. Hoping that she wasn't to scared to go back to having fun with Duck. He enjoyed hearing their laughter and seeing their smiling faces.
"Alright, and thanks Lee" she said smiling proudly and walking over to see if Duck was ready to play. Secretly she was still a little scared more bad people would come. But she knew she'd always have Lee and Carley to protect her which gave her some piece of mind.