Redemptive Opportunities

Chapter 1: a second chance

Warning, if you have not played The Walking Dead Video Game, this story will contain spoilers.

Yo, what's up, ladies and gentlemen, we're back with another story. Once again, I am writing this story with A Writer With Mixed Interests. This is our last story were writing together.

Now as you can tell me the title and summary, this is a story where Lee is given a second chance to make things right after he dies. I've seen similar stories, but people just didn't want to finish them as perusal. I'm not saying everyone does that, but people.

Anyway, here's the beginning chapter of the story. If you have any questions, let either of us know. Enjoy the first chapter, folks, and don't be afraid to hit that review button.

"No, don't worry...alright."

Lee's ability to breathe was decreasing faster than he liked, and his yellowing eyes were beginning to lose focus on the sobbing little girl that knelt before him. He was truly going to miss Clementine when he was gone, but at least he had fulfilled one thing: He had the chance to look after her until she found her parents.

Losing her parents and guardian all in one day had to have taken a toll on the little girl, but Lee knew that she could make it. She was strong, and was able to endure so much more than the average nine-year-old.

Lee was able to make out three more words, something he wanted to reassure Clementine. "I'll miss you."

"Me too." Clementine whimpered as she leaned forward and pressed her hand against Lee's one hand. Preparing to do something that would change her life forever, Clementine lifted the Glock 17 she acquired from the guard, and with one pull from the trigger, she fired.

Lee may be dead now and Clementine may be alone, but now he was in a better place.

Lee's eyes snapped open, and he sat up with a gasp. Looking around, he noticed that he was surrounded by trees. Where was he? Where was Clementine? Then he remembered, he should be handcuffed to a radiator with only one arm, but he wasn't.

Then, he remembered. He was bitten, and Clementine had just shot him in the head to prevent him from turning. But that didn't help on discovering where he was. It didn't seem like Heaven or hell or anything like that. Was this purgatory?

Lee reached out to scratch the back of his neck - wait. He looked down and realized that his left arm was back in place. Something was happening, but what?

He was about to stand up, but then he felt a sharp pain in his leg that sent him back down onto the ground. After carefully looking around, he discovered he was in the same forest where that cop car crashed. Speaking of the cop, Lee turned around and noticed the now dead office laying on the ground.

But how was here? Did he...Did he go back in time...? Was this...A second chance...?

While this was highly confusing and impossible, this was perfect. He could make things right, stop people from dying with the knowledge he has. Before thinking about it further, Lee noticed the walkers roaming around the area and quickly limped away.

From his memory, he knew that Clementine's house was coming up before him. Lee began to climb the fence, but not before a walker grabbed his good leg. He promptly kicked it away before it could bite him and practically fell onto the other side of the fence, where Clementine's backyard was.

The growling noises continued, but Lee ignored that. He looked up at the treehouse and knew that Clementine was up there, but he didn't know if calling up to her (especially by name) was a good idea. He steered clear from the treehouse in case she actually did try to drop a hammer onto his head.

Lee approached the glass door and looked around.

"Coast is clear," he told himself, opening the door and going inside. He remembered that it was unlocked.

First thing first, he had to take care of Sandra before she got to jump on him again. He armed himself with a knife and searched the house for her undead form. He eventually found Sandra on the stairs and stabbed her once in the head. Now with that taken care of, he picked up the walkie-talkie and waited for Clementine to contact him.

While he waited, the messages on the phone began to play. It felt extremely heart-breaking listening to them again.

Three new messages. Message one. Left at five-forty-three p.m.

"Hey, Sandra, this is Diana. We're still in Savannah. Ed had a little 'incident' with some crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and have it checked out. Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break!"

Message two. Left at eleven-nine-teen p.m.

"Oh my God, finally! I don't know if you're tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped. They're not letting us leave and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I've got to get back to the hospital. Please let me know that you're safe."

Message three. Left at six-fifty-one a.m.

"Clementine? Baby, if you can hear this, call the police. That's 9-1-1. We love you...we love you...we love y-"

"Daddy?" her voice finally spoke up in static.

Lee pulled the walkie-talkie from his back pocket and spoke into it, trying to steer the conversation as slowly as possible. "Hello?"

"You're not my Daddy." Clementine stated the obvious. Her sweet voice was exactly the same.

"I'm not a monster," Lee reassured her gently. He did his very best not to scare her.

"My names Clementine." she introduced herself as before. "This is my house."

"Hi, Clementine," Lee greeted. "I'm Lee."

He decided to skip asking her about her parents, since he knew full well about them. "Are you okay?"

"I'm in my tree house, they can't get in." Clementine answered as she leaned out of the tree house and waved to Lee. "Can you see me? I can see you."

Lee waved back with a smile, and since Sandra was already taken care of, the conversation wouldn't end so badly this time around.

"That's smart," Lee praised. "I can see you."

"Is it safe to come down?" Clementine inquired and got a mere nod from Lee. She hoped down and went to greet him.

Lee heard the back door open, and a small yet familiar figure inched her way closer to him. He looked down at her and smiled gently. "Hi there."

"Hi" Clementine returned the greeting. She looked over his shoulder for a moment. "Where's Sandra?"

Lee was silent for a moment, looking at the ground solemnly. He wasn't entirely sure if he should tell Clementine the truth or not, until he realized that there was no point in lying to her.

"She was a monster. Like the ones outside," Lee explained. "I'm sorry."

"Oh." Clementine understood and lowered her head. She placed her hand upon her arm. "I want my parents to come back."

Lee looked away for half a second. "I...think that might be a little while, you know?" He didn't want to bluntly tell the little girl that her parents were dead.

"Oh, okay." Clementine nodded in sadness. "What am I going to do? I don't want to stop in my tree house again.

Lee knelt down to Clementine's level.

"I won't leave you alone, okay? I'll look after you for as long as I need to," he spoke gently. "But we need to find help before it gets dark."

"Yeah, that sounds long a good idea." Clementine agreed as she held Lee's hand.

"Let's go," Lee instructed. He looked down at the little girl. "Stay close to me."

Lee took Clementine around the corner of her home and then for a second time, he saw Shawn Greene and his friend Chet trying to move a car out the way like last time. Lee had to save Shawn this time, no matter what.

"Man, Mama was cooking hot dish tonight." Chet complained.

"We'll never get back home at this rate," Shawn moaned.

"Hey!" Lee called to them, same as before.

"Don't eat us!" Shawn pleaded as he and Chet jumped back, mistaking them to be walkers.

"We're not going to hurt you," Lee assured them, as Clementine hid behind him.

"Whew." Shawn sighed in relief. "You're not one of them then. Sorry, for a moment we thought you and your little girl were going to jump on us."

Lee nodded. "It's all right. We just need to get out of here. It's too dangerous."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Shawn agreed. "Listen, it's not safe to be out here. If you help us with this problem, we can give you and your daughter a ride to my dad's farm. I'm Shawn, Shawn Greene."

Lee noticed that the dialogue was slightly different compared to the first time, but nevertheless, he had the feeling everything would turn out mostly the same if he was able to save the others.

Chet knelt down to Clementine's height and waved at her to make her feel a little more comfortable. "I'm Chet."

Clementine smiled shyly and hid behind Lee's leg.

"I'm Lee. This is Clementine," Lee introduced them both. "And...I'm not her dad. I'm just some guy." He remembered that honesty was the best policy this time around.

Shawn looked a little skeptically, but nevertheless, she shrugged it off. "Okay. Well, we better get moving before of these things turn up."

Lee nodded and the four of them began to push a car out of their as quickly as possible. Last time, the walkers almost were upon them, but they escaped just in time.

Fortunately, Lee and the group were able to move the car out the way a lot faster than last time. Since there was no rush this time, Shawn, Lee and Clementine calmly entered the car while Chet climbed into the back.

"For just some guy, you seem to help others well." Shawn commented.

Lee smiled at the compliment, but didn't say anything. Clementine still looked a little scared, but he knew that she would be okay. The four drove their way to Hershel's farm, where Kenny and his family would also be.

The drive took nearly two hours, and by the time they got there, it was dark, the same as last time.

"Hey, Shawn? I ought to run on home now," Chet said to his friend. "Mama gets worried."

"All right, I'll see you later, man." Shawn bid his friend goodbye and hoped he stayed safe.

Chet bid Lee and Clementine goodbye too before he began to walk away from the farm.

As soon at Chet was out of sight, Hershel exited the house and was relieved to see his son alive and well. "Oh, thank God you're okay," he said, hugging Shawn.

"I probably wouldn't have made it back with Chet." Shawn admitted as he leaned out from the hug.

"Well, I'm glad you took him with you, then," Hershel noted. Finally, he noticed Lee and Clementine approaching, and said the same words as before. "You've brought a couple of guests."

"Your boy is a lifesaver," Lee commented.

"This is Lee and Clementine." Shawn introduced the two, gesturing his hands to both them and his father. "They helped me and Chet out back in Atlanta. I told them they could spend the night."

"Well, alright then. But just for tonight, I don't run a bed and breakfast," Hershel replied. He paused. "So, it's just you and your daughter, then."

"Not his daughter. He's just-well, some guy." Shawn corrected with a slight shrug.

Hershel frowned, and bent down to Clementine's level. "Honey, do you know this man?"

"Yes." Clementine nodded in response.

Hershel seemed satisfied with that answer and stood back up but then he noticed Lee's injured leg.

"Looks like you've hurt your leg pretty bad there." Hershel commented, placing his hands upon his hips.

Lee decided to shake it off this time around. "It's not too bad."

"Take a seat on the porch and let me be the judge of that." Hershel told him. "Shawn, go and check on your sisters."

Shawn nodded and went inside his home. Lee took on a seat on the porch like before while Clementine stood nearby. Hershel stepped inside his home for a moment to fetch some medical supplies.

Once he returned, he examined Lee's injury. "This looks swollen to hell."

"It hurts like hell, but then again it could be worse," Lee almost joked, smiling slightly.

"That's true." Hershel agreed as he began to wrap bandages around his wound. Like before, he began to ask the same questions. "How did this happen?"

Lee told him the truth last time which was a car accident in a police car, but he told Hershel that the officer was giving him a ride.

Still, though, honesty was the best policy as he remembered from earlier. So he decided to step ahead the game a little bit.

"I was in a car accident," he replied. "A police officer was giving me a ride out of Atlanta."

"That was awful nicely of him." Hershel replied, his expression looked like he believed him.

There wasn't much conversation between them after that. Hershel asked Clementine for her name, and after she introduced herself, Shawn came back outside.

"So I'm thinking first thing in the morning, we need to barricade that fence." Shawn suggested to his father.

Hershel, however, like before, did not seem to believe it. "That's not necessary, Shawn."

"Look, I don't know what you've heard, but there's some serious...Shit out there." Shawn lowered his voice to prevent Clementine from hearing him curse. "Lee, tell him what you saw out there."

"Your son's right, you might want to fortify this place," Lee agreed with Shawn.

"Well, do what you think is necessary." Hershel told his son after he finished tending to Lee's wound. "The swelling should go down. If not, well we'll just have to shoot you."

Lee could tell he was only kidding.

"We'll get to work on it in the morning with that other family." Shawn suggested as he proceeded back into the house.

Once some sleeping bags were issued, Lee and Clementine went into the barn where they noticed Kenny and his family sleeping from above.

Lee knew that he should sleep soon since Kenny would most likely be the one to wake him up in the morning, but first he talked to Clementine since she seemed a little sad.

"Are you okay, Clem?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm okay I guess." Clementine replied as she shifted around. "I just miss my mom and dad is all."

"I understand," Lee nodded sympathetically. "We should try and get some sleep. They'll probably be waking us up early tomorrow."

Clementine nodded and got into a comfortable position. Lee closed his eyes and drifted off into his own sleep, and this time, he did not have the nightmare of his ex-wife. Tomorrow was going to be the day things were going to pick up. It may be difficult to save everyone, but he had to try no matter what.

That's the first chapter completed, folks. Lee has been given a second chance and so far, he has not saved any lives, but in time, he will try to save those who died before. Stay tuned for chapter 2.