It was a Saturday night, and Tom was recounting the details of the Walking Dead game to his friend Eric.
"Wait, so you're telling me that those nice dairy farmer guys were cannibals? And they cooked Mark?" Eric asked. Tom nodded.
"Sure were, sure did. And they locked everyone in a meat locker. Well, not Kat and Duck, but we'll get to them. Anyway, Larry started going crazy and had a heart attack-" Tom was cut off.
"Wait, is Larry the guy with the mustache or the old guy? I always get them confused," Eric asked.
"Larry's Lilly's dad, so the old guy. Mustache man is Kenny," Tom said.
"Wait, who's Lilly again? Is she the reporter or the angry one?" Eric asked.
"The angry one. And with a dad like Larry, it's no wonder. Anyway, then Larry had a heart attack, and so Lilly tries to give him CPR, and you can either help her or help Kenny drop a salt lick on Larry's head," Tom said. Eric frowned.
"Wait a sec, why would he do that? And did Ben freak out? He's my favorite," Eric asked. Tom shook his head.
"Kenny's logic was that if Larry turned, it would be pretty fucking bad. Larry's a big guy... Lemme pull up a picture," Tom paused, pulling out his phone and searching for a picture of Larry, before showing it to Eric.
"Oh," Eric said.
"Yeah. And as for Ben, he didn't come along, remember? He and Carley, the reporter, or Doug, depending on who you saved earlier, come in later. Moving on, no matter what you do, Larry is killed by Kenny, and maybe you too. Lilly gets mad at you if you help Kenny, and Kenny gets mad at you if you help Lilly. Not good," Tom said. Eric nodded.
"Doesn't sound good. But dude, I'm beat. Can we pick this up later?" He asked. Tom sighed.
"Ugh, sure. I don't get why you can't just play the game..." He asked.
"I don't like horror games?" Eric said. Tom shook his head.
"Eh, whatever. I'm staying up. You can crash in my bed," He said, as Eric pulled off his shirt and got into Tom's bed. Tom grabbed his Power Rangers pajamas and a gray sweatshirt and headed into the bathroom to change, before throwing himself onto the couch and firing up his PS4. He played for a few hours, before pausing the game and closing his eyes for just a minute...
"Holy shit... Tom, wake up!" Eric shook his friend awake.
"Wha... whas goin on..." Tom slurred, still asleep.
"Tom, we're in the middle of the fucking woods, which is sure as hell not where we fell asleep last night!" Eric said loudly.
"What?" Tom lurched up, knocking Eric over. Tom looked around. Eric was kneeling in front of him, still shirtless, his curly hair standing up straight. Tom ran a hand through his own short hair as he inspected the trees.
"These woods are really familiar..." He said, just as a twig snapped behind him. He turned to look and found himself face to face with a bloody corpse.
"Okay, holy fuck, zombie! Run!" Tom leaped up, pulling Eric with him. The two ran through the woods, before being faced with a fence.
"Hop the fence, hop the fence!" Tom shouted as he pulled himself over and landed with a thud in someone's backyard. Eric landed smoothly next to him and helped Tom up. Tom looked around the yard and then back to Eric.
"You're gonna think I'm crazy, but we're in Clem's backyard," He whispered. Eric frowned.
"That girl from your zombie game? Are you crazy?" He asked, before turning around and looking back at the zombies who were clawing at the fence. "On second thought, maybe you aren't so crazy,".
"Yeah. Anyway..." Just then, someone else climbed over the fence and landed behind them. The pair stumbled back.
"Are you alive?" Was the first thing that came out of Eric's mouth. The man frowned.
"I'd like to think so. I'm Lee. Do you know what's going on?" He asked. Eric shrugged.
"Nice to meet you, Lee. I'm Tom, and this is Eric. All we know is that someone just tried to eat us... Hey, is your leg okay?" Tom asked. Lee frowned.
"The car I was in crashed. The driver saw one of those things and swerved off the highway, and that's how I injured my leg. I had it better than he did, though," Lee said. Tom nodded. He knew that Lee was omitting part of his story, but it was for a good reason. If Tom had been an NPC, his Lee wouldn't have said that he was in a police car.
"Maybe there's something to fix you up in this house," He commented. Lee frowned.
"I'm not sure it's a good idea to just go into someone's house like that. They could be armed," He said. Tom shrugged.
"You aren't going to get very far without treating that leg," He said.
"We can let them know that we don't mean any harm," Eric added helpfully. Lee thought about it for a moment.
"Alright, sure. Let's head in," He said. Tom smiled.
"You need any help?" Eric asked, and Lee shook his head.
"No, I'm fine," He said. They made their way to the porch. Lee turned to Eric.
"Would you mind me asking why you're not wearing a shirt?" He asked. Eric flushed.
"Uh, we kind of woke up and realized that all this was happening. We didn't think about changing before we left..." He said. Lee nodded.
"Makes sense," He said. Tom smiled. This just reminded him why everyone loved Lee, not that anyone needed a reminder. Tom may have been acting cool, but inside, he was freaking out, both because his risk of death had just skyrocketed, and because he was now inside of his favorite video game with his best friend.
"Uh, hello? Anybody home? I need a little help," Lee called. There was no Eric slid open the door. The three men walked inside. Tom prepared himself. He looked around Clementine's house. There was the phone, beeping, and there was Clem's family photo... There was Clem's coloring book... And there was the puddle of blood on the floor.
"Coming in. Don't shoot, okay?" Lee said as Eric slid open the door. The three men walked inside. Tom prepared himself. He looked around Clementine's house. There was the phone, beeping, and there was Clem's family photo... There was Clem's coloring book... And there was the puddle of blood on the floor.
"Ah, shit," Lee said.
"You okay?" Eric asked. Lee nodded.
"Yeah, fine... We're not intruders! Or... one of them," He added. Tom frowned.
"Technically, we are kind of intruders..." He said. Lee shook his head.
"Doesn't matter. We aren't gonna hurt anyone," He said. Tom nodded.
"Careful, don't slip, Lee," He warned as the group walked into the kitchen. Lee nearly did slip, but Eric reached out to steady him.
"Thanks, Eric," Lee said. Eric smiled. Tom looked around the kitchen, grabbing a cup of water that was sitting by the sink.
"Hey, you want some water?" Tom asked, holding the cup out to Lee.
"Thanks," Lee said, quickly drinking it all as Tom rummaged through drawers. He found two granola bars and pocketed them. He also found the walkie-talkie and put it in his sweatshirt pocket. As he did, he felt his phone in the pocket. He wondered how it worked in this universe, but shook his head and focused on the moment.
"No problem," He said.
"The Marsh House?" Eric called from the corner of the kitchen. He pulled a sticky note off of the fridge and showed it to the other two.
"That's a Savannah area code. The kind of note you'd leave a babysitter," Lee said.
"Well, a kid did live here," Tom gestured toward the coloring book.
"I didn't color in the lines as well as that kid," Eric commented. Lee laughed.
"Me neither," He said.
"Hey, what's over there?" Eric asked, gesturing toward the flashing light in the living room.
"A phone," Tom said, leaving the kitchen, the other two following him.
"Maybe there's something on there," Lee said.
Tom headed over to the phone and clicked the button to play the messages.
Three new messages.
Tom frowned, glancing at Eric. Eric nodded. He remembered this part of Tom's retelling of the game. Lee stayed focused on the answering machine.
Message one. Left at five-forty-three p.m.
Tom stared at the answering machine. This was really happening. Holy shit.
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 get him 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've 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 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-
The three stood in shocked silence for a moment.
"Holy shit," Lee said, picking up the photo of the family that was next to the phone.
"Hey... can I have that?" Tom asked. Lee looked at him strangely.
"Why?" He asked.
"It just... seems like a shame to let them be forgotten, you know? They seemed like a really happy family," Tom said. Lee nodded thoughtfully, handing over the picture. Tom slid it out of the frame and put it in his pocket.
"Thanks," Tom said. Just then, the walkie buzzed to life.
"Daddy?" It was a girl's voice. Clem! Of course, Lee didn't know that. Tom pulled the walkie out of his pocket and handed it to Lee. He would have liked to have said the first words to Clem, but it felt like that was Lee's job.
"Huh?" Lee said, heading over to the door. "...Hello?".
"You need to be quiet," Clem said. Lee turned around and started looking confusedly around the house. Eric followed him, while Tom stayed by the screen door.
"Are you okay?" Lee asked, looking up the stairwell.
"I'm okay. They tried to get me. But I'm hiding until my parents come home," Clem said. Lee continued to look around the house.
"What's your name?" Lee asked, looking under the couch. Eric inspected a picture on the wall.
"I'm Clementine. This is my house," Clem said.
"Hi, Clementine. I'm Lee. These are Eric and Tom," Lee said. He turned and looked in the kitchen again, as if there was something he had missed. Tom knew that there wasn't, but he was just going to let this series of events fold out.
"How old are you?" Lee asked.
"Eight," Clem said.
"And you're all alone?" Lee asked, his voice revealing horror and disbelief.
"Yes. I don't know where anybody is. How old are you?" She asked.
"I'm, uh... thirty-seven. And Tom and Eric are..." Lee turned to the other two.
"We're twenty," Eric said.
"They're twenty," Lee said.
"Okay," Clem said.
"Where are your parents?" Lee asked.
"They took a trip and left me with Sandra. They're in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are," Clem said. Tom shifted uncomfortably by the door at the mention of Sandra's name.
"Are you safe?" Lee asked.
"I'm outside in my treehouse. They can't get in," Clem said. Lee looked out of the kitchen window.
"That's smart," He said. Eric came up behind him to look as Clem pushed the door to her treehouse open.
"See?" She said. "Can you see me? I can see you through the window,". Lee and Eric waved.
"Shit," Tom said, acting surprised as Sandra came up behind them.
"Ahh!" Clem warned, and Lee and Eric turned around to see Sandra. Tom kicked the zombified babysitter, and she fell over and lunged for him. He pushed her off of him to the best of his abilities. Lee nearly slipped on the blood again trying to get to Tom, but Eric's reflexes saved him again. Lee kicked Sandra off of Tom, only to stumble backward and land on the ground with a thud. Tom quickly got up, but before he could kick Sandra again, she was on top of Lee.
Eric looked for anything he could use as a weapon, as he wasn't wearing shoes, unlike the other two. As Tom and Lee tried to wrestle Sandra off of Lee, Clem pried the door open and handed Lee a hammer. He hit Sandra off of him. Then he got up and hit her again, and then again. He finally hit her one last time, before standing back, panting.
"Hi there," Lee said. Clem stepped back.
"Did you kill it?" She asked, sadness apparent in her voice.
"I think something else did. Before me, I think," Lee said, looking down at the girl.
"I heard her scream two nights ago. Maybe one of the monsters got her," Clem said. Lee's eyes visibly widened.
"Two nights ago? Yeah, that's probably what happened," Lee said. "You've been all by yourself through this?".
"Yeah. I want my parents to come home now," Clem said. Lee frowned, looking up to Eric and Tom, whose expressions mirrored his own.
"I think that might be a little while, you know?" He said. Tom nodded, approving of Lee's choice of words.
"Oh," Clem said sadly.
"Look, I don't know what happened. But we can look after you until then if you want," Tom said, stepping toward Clementine. Clem smiled up at him.
"Okay. Are you Tom or Eric?" She asked.
"I'm Tom," Tom said. Clementine nodded.
"Okay. What do we do now?" She asked the three men.
"We need to find help before it gets dark," Tom decided, remembering that Lee used that line in the game.
"I think that's a good idea. Is everyone in favor?" Eric said. Lee nodded.
"It's down to you, sweet pea. What do you think?" Lee asked, looking at Clem. She nodded slowly.
"That's a good idea," She said.
"Then we'll head out now," Tom said. Lee nodded, and the four headed out of the house, and into the apocalypse.
Hey! Here's a thing! Hope it doesn't suck.