Chapter 1 - Strangers
Twigs and dry leaves crumbled and snapped under the feet of the trio, a young girl wearing a pair of grey worn out trousers, and her green jacket tried to blend with the scenery. A purple cap with the letter 'D' on the front covered her dark, naturally curly hair, a brown backpack filled with food and ammo was tied tightly to her shoulders and she gripped a pistol in her hand. The girl was flanked by two older men, one walking a few metres behind and another walking next to her, the man in back of the group was carrying a hunting rifle and he wore a pair of brown trousers and a black hoodie with the hood up, his handlebar moustache was his most prominent feature and could just be seen under his hood. The man at the front was dark skinned with his upper half covered by blue jacket and that matched a pair of tan trousers, he clutched a shotgun in his hands and a pistol hung in a holster at his side, both men carried the same backpacks as the girl, but they were filled with different things, tenting, and weapons mostly, but the man in front had a couple bottles of water in his too.
"how much further is the edge Lee?" the man at the back of the group asked
Lee replied clicking his neck I don't know Ken, I jus-" he held his hand up to stop them "walker, couple metres ahead" he held up his shotgun as the walker stumbled through the foliage, it noticed the trio and came at them, as Lee readied his shotgun there was a whip in the air and the walker fell forward, there was a crossbow bolt sticking out the back of it head "what the fuck?" Lee asked as a man appeared behind one of the trees, he wore a blue vest shirt and a pair of black trousers
he was reloading his crossbow as he noticed the group in front of him "oh shit"
he raised his crossbow and Kenny said "don't even think about it, you're outnumbered"
there was more crunching from the side of them and a second man appeared, he was dressed in a sheriff's uniform, his badge giving off a dull gleam in the sun and there was a shine coming off of the revolver he held in his hand "now, no one has to get hurt here" Kenny swung his rifle around and aimed it at the new arrival "whoa whoa, calm down. What are your names?"
Lee leant into his shotgun more "is that really important?" he asked, his eyes going from the sheriff to the man with the crossbow, there was silence for a few seconds and he let out a breath "I'm Lee, that's Kenny and she's Clementine"
the girl in the middle of the trio made little movement apart from lowering her gun slightly "okay, well, I'm Rick" the man in the sheriff's uniform replied " and that's Daryl" he indicated to the man with crossbow who started slowly sidestepping away from Rick to create a sort of circle around the trio
Lee raised his shotgun slightly "Don't. Even. Think about it"
Rick raised his hand more, lowering his own revolver "Daryl, it's okay. What are you people doing around these parts?" he spoke with a tone of authority, whoever he was he was the leader of the group
Daryl kept his crossbow raised and Kenny replied "we're just passing through, so there's no need to feel like we're moving in on your turf" the trio also didn't lower their guns
Rick had his gun lowered but didn't holster it, he cleared his throat "so you people don't have any camps or anything like that?"
Lee shook his head, but the girl spoke, when she did even though she looked to be in her teens she spoke with a quiet timid voice "we did" she looked around at Lee and Kenny "have a camp I mean. But we were attacked, now there's just us"
there was a long silence where everyone exchanged glances, Lee slowly lowered his shotgun, now there was just Kenny and Daryl aiming at each other "Kenny" he looked at Lee before reluctantly lowering his rifle
Rick uncocked his revolver and stood up straight "we've got a farm, not long from here, it's not much, but it's safe. You're welcome to join, as long as you follow some rules of course"
Lee looked down at Clementine, who smiled back at him, he then looked to Kenny, who simply nodded "we'll follow" he shouldered his shotgun and looked to Daryl who had only just lowered his crossbow.
They walked for near twenty minutes, Rick and Daryl walked a couple metres ahead of the others, their weapons drawn, they seemed to be talking about looking for someone "what's going on here Lee?" Kenny asked knocking a branch out of his way
Lee looked back him, Kenny was walking a meter or two behind Lee and Clementine like he usually did, but he seemed agitated "what do you mean Ken?"
he pulled his hood down I mean, what are we doing following these guys, who knows what they are, they could be like the Crawford guys for all we know or BE the Crawford guys, we didn't take 'em all out"
Lee let out a deep breath and let Rick and Daryl walk ahead some more "we're just going to go and see what they're like, if they look okay, we'll stay for a couple days tops, if not, well, we'll figure that out IF it happens"
Kenny shook his head "c'mon, they're getting further away"
after a few more minutes they reached the edge of the forest, Rick told them to wait at the edge with Daryl "Kenny, do you recognise this farm?" Lee asked
Kenny nodded "crap, Hershel's farm"
Daryl hadn't been paying attention, he was looking further into the forest "hey, you said you guys were attacked at your last camp, how many of you were there?" he spat out into the forest as he looked up at them
Lee thought for a moment but Clementine answered in his place "ten, including us" she had holstered her pistol and was fidgeting with her backpack strap
Daryl shouldered his crossbow and looked down at the girl "how old are you?" he spoke to her with more politeness than he did Lee and Kenny
Clementine bit her lip slightly as if the subject was emotional for her "I'm fourteen" she then shrugged her shoulders
"Clem?" she looked up at Lee and nodded "it's gonna be okay, we'll find them"
Daryl was watching them closely and as he looked back at the farm he saw Rick returning with Hershel at his side "you ready?" Kenny said to Lee
"this is them" Rick said indicating the trio to Hershel
the old man sighed "you three again" Rick went to speak but Hershel silenced him noticing that Kenny was alone "what happened to your kid and your wife?"
Kenny fiddled with his rifle, not making eye contact with Hershel "they're gone"
Hershel thought for a moment I can't say I've forgiven you, but, there's always some good that can be done in this world." Lee looked from Kenny to Hershel "you can stay, as long as you follow MY rules" both Kenny and Lee nodded "okay, you'll have to hand over you guns, I won't allow them on the farm, I know that'll be hard but you'll have to trust us".
The next hours went smoothly, the trio handed over their guns and Rick showed them to a place to set up their tents while introducing them to the rest of the group, over dinner they found out that the
majority of the group were going out looking for a girl that had gone missing, there was still a search party out that they were waiting on and up in the farm house was Rick's son who had been accidentally shot by a member of Hershel's group who had perished trying to find him medical supplies, the introductions went smoothly with some people being obviously reluctant.
"They seem nice" Clementine said as Lee was climbing into his tent
he smiled at her "yeah, they do" he stood back up from the entrance "don't go wandering tonight" he said to her
she lowered her head I won't, goodnight" she climbed into her tent zipping up the entrance in the process, as she sat inside with her legs crossed she watched Lee's silhouette return to its tent.
Clementine leaned over and unzipped her backpack, retrieving a letter she opened it and read it in her head, the paper was crumpled at the edges and there were dried tear stains that obscured some of the letters,
Clementine,
When you read this I will no longer be there with you and for that I am sorry. I'm sure I left to protect you because, I love you Clementine, from the moment I met I've been in love with you, I've just never been able to say it, to see you every day and not be able to tell you hurt me more than any walker or bandit ever could, when this all began I thought I had lost you for ever and to see you again gave me hope. I'm sorry to no longer be with you but if I was you would never have known my feelings for you.
With you in memory
Johnathan xx
she started crying as she read the letter again, this had become her nightly routine for the past few weeks, she crumpled sideways clutching the letter in her hand as she cried herself to sleep.