Nothing but Deadweight
Note: I don't own any of the characters from Walking Dead.
Running was the only thing on Ben Paul's mind. Running away from walkers and bandits. That was the most important thing to him, especially after their new discovery. He was running with Travis, a friend of his, and David, a teacher.
"How much longer to we have to run?" Travis panted.
"I don't know! How should I know?!" Ben frantically replied.
"Well, be better find someplace soon! I don't think-"
"AAARRRGH!" David screamed.
Ben and Travis skidded to a stop. David's leg was shut inside a rusty old trap
"Oh-oh shit," David breathed. "Get it off…GET IT OFF OF ME!"
"Quiet! You're gonna attract all the walkers!"
David was whimpering in pain when two men suddenly ran towards us. One with an axe and another with a gun and glasses.
"Jesus Christ…" The man with the gun murmured
"Oh shit!" Travis exclaimed," No. No…Please don't kill us! We just want to help out teacher! We'll leave. I swear!"
"Lee!" A voice called from a distance. Another man with a gun, cap and mustache came along.
Great. More company.
"You guys okay?"
"G-get it off!" David wailed, "Get if off, God Dammit, get it off me!"
"Travis!" Ben called, "Maybe these guys can help!"
"These might be the same guys who raided our camp and… we barely got away from that!" Travis protested.
"What guys?" The man with the glasses asked.
"Who the raided your camp?" The man with the axe demanded.
"I-I don't know! Guys with guns!" Ben babbled
"Please!" Travis begged, "We won't bother you I swear!"
David wailed in pain again
"Lee this is fucked up. We've gotta help 'em." The man with glasses demanded.
"PLEASE" Ben beseeched
"Ben, shut up!" Travis interrupted, "My dad was Special Forces, I know what I'm doing!"
However, Ben knew this was their only hope.
"Just see if you can get him out! After that you can leave us or whatever. I don't care! Please!" Ben could see Travis rolling his eyes.
Ben, and David were now shambling through the woods with the three men they met. Travis didn't make it. Ben was only able to figure out that the man with the axe was Lee, The man wearing glasses was Mark, and the one with the cap was Kenny. All of them broke out onto the road to see the Travalier Motel. Ben remembered his family staying there a couple of times. Ben cringed.
You can't think of them now.
"Get the gates open! We've got wounded." Lee called out.
One dumpster was shoved forward, and Ben rushed in without even thinking, almost smashing into a mother and her son.
"Who the HELL are these people?!" A big angry-looking man yelled.
There were jumbles of sentences everywhere as Ben helped David into a pickup truck. The woman he almost crashed into earlier ran over to him.
Over the jumbles of words, there was a louder, sterner voice he heard
"Lee! LEE!" A woman with long hair demanded, "What the hell? You can't just be bringing new people here! What are you thinking?"
More sentences of argument arose, even more loudly than last time.
"He would've DIED if we left him!" Lee defended
"So what?" The big man asked.
"We are NOT responsible for every struggling survivor we come across! We have to focus on OUR group! Right here. Right now" the long-haired woman ordered.
"Come on Lilly." Mark protested, "These are people! People trying to survive just like us. We've gotta stick together to survive!"
"The only reason you're here is because you had food." Lilly snapped back, "Enough for all of us. But that food is almost gone. We maybe got a week's worth left-" Lilly suddenly turned towards Ben, making him flinch, "and I don't suppose you guys are carrying any groceries are you?!"
"…No."
Ben was starting to get scared of Lilly
"Fine," Mark said, "You guys fight it out then. Welcome to the family, kid."
Ben felt something grab his hand
"Come over here and see what I drew." A little girl told him.
That girl reminded him too much of his little sister, always happily asking everyone to see what she drew. He knew that he couldn't stay near her for too long without going absolutely crazy.
"What? No, I-"
"Just come on." The girl pleaded, dragging him away from another argument.
Ben sat on the hot pavement while he watched Clementine and Duck draw a makeshift map of Atlanta. He caught a glance at Lee, holding four food items. He knew that he would not eat today. Lee gave a piece to Clementine, Duck, Kenny and Carley. Then Lee walked towards him
"Hey, is my friend gonna make it?" Ben asked
"I don't know, but Katjaa will do her best, I promise."
"I can't believe you chopped of his leg!"
"There was no other way…" Lee paused, "So who are you people? Our group's gonna want to know."
"I'm Ben. Ben Paul. The man you saved is Mr. Parker, the band director at my school. We all came down from Stone Mountain for the playoffs when…" Ben trailed off, "When everything happened."
There was a long silence.
"I wished I could've helped." Ben confessed.
"You did all you could." Lee replied.
"Ken, Lee? Come here please." Katjaa called.
"Do you like my drawing?" Clementine asked. Many memories flashed through his head like a broken light. Ben hung his head
"It's good." Ben managed to say.
"Ben? Is there something wrong?"
"It's just. I have-"
Katjaa's screams echoed across the motel.
"The axe." Lee screamed. "Hurry!"
Ben froze, and ran towards the pickup truck as fast as he could.
He knew Mr. Parker had died.