Chapter 2 of walking dead: a new world
"Fuck, Lee Everett, is that really you?" the man called, lowering his gun and standing from his spot in the bush. He squinted his eyes at Lee momentarily. "Holy shit." He said with a smirk. He began walking towards Lee, still rather cautiously, though, his gun was forgotten. Lee looked up at the man, rather confused as to why he wasn't dead…and why he seemed to know him. "Lee, it's me, John Sullivan. I was in your social studies class back at the University of Georgia…don't kill me." Lee blinked his eyes, shocked to see someone from his past standing right in front of him…and to think, he didn't even recognise him. John gave Lee a hand up, pulling him up to his feet. Lee looked the man up and down. Now he remembered. This was the kid that used to sit at the back of the class, doodling in his note-book. "I never thought I'd see you here…or anyone for that matter. It's been a while."
"What are you doing out here? And why the fuck did you try to shoot me?" Lee questioned, crossing his arms.
"In my defence, I didn't know it was you." John gave a smirk. "Where have you been? I thought everyone back home was dead. How are you still alive?"
"I could ask you the same thing." Lee said. John was rather skinny, even for a teenager such as himself. He wore a faded green army jacket which had hidden his figure in the bushes before. He also wore blue shorts that went up to his knees. The boy had blue and purple bloody cuts and bruises all over his arms, legs and face. Other than that, he seemed completely fine.
John glanced over at the RV, smiling. "Nice ride. Where'd you get it?"
"Mind your own business…" John laughed a little and banged the side of the RV with the back of his fist. Lee blinked his eyes. How did this kid get out here by himself? "What happened…you know, after I…"
John frowned. "Not much. We got a substitute…then the substitute started chewing everyone's faces off. That's how this all started…for us anyway. First her, then the rest of the school…but a couple of us escaped you know…though, my family wasn't so lucky. The rest of us were found by a small group who were scavenging around in the university, looking for supplies. They found us and in exchange for our food, they agreed to take us in." That was when John noticed the little brown-haired girl sitting by the RV window, her hands pressed up against the glass, looking as though she was going to be sick. "Holy shit…I didn't know you had a kid Mr Everett."
"She's not my kid. I found her a while back. We're a team."
John sniggered a little. "Some team...why are you dragging her around with you?"
"What the fuck does that mean?"
"Hey, chill out dude." John said, holding his hands up in mock-surrender. "I'm just saying, I'd have thought you'd be traveling alone, instead of having to take care of the girl."
"We can push the car in front of the gap. It's not really sturdy enough, but it'll hold back the walker's…at least for a little while." Carley suggested. Kenny hummed in agreement. Ben knelt next to the hole in the wall, dropping a pile of rusted metal scraps and wooden planks on the floor. Kenny quirked an eyebrow up. "Is that all you've got?"
"There's hardly anything left out there. Go see for yourself if you don't believe me." Ben said sternly. Ken rolled his eyes and examined the pile. Ben knew that Kenny didn't trust him. It was probably going to take a while for him to be accepted as one of them. Kenny gave a shrug, not entirely sure what their next move should be.
"I think it's time we started considering relocating." Carley said, leaning against the wall and crossing her arms over her chest to try and keep warm. "I mean, we all know that the motor-inn's not safe anymore. We need to move if we want to survive this winter."
"Believe me, Katjaa and I have considered it many times, but now that Lee-fucking-Everett's gone and stolen our only source of transportation…" Kenny sighed and looked out onto the roadside. "…We need a plan to get us out of this mess Carley…it's not going to be easy…if anything happens to my family…"
"Think of it this way." Lily said, walking over to the two of them. Kenny and Carley both looked at each other, both surprised to see Lily had already recovered from her fit of screaming. She still looked a little sick to her stomach, but other than that, she looked perfectly normal. "With Lee and Clementine gone, it's just two less mouths to feed. Two less people we need to take care of. Now, we can afford to be a little more selfish." Lily nodded to herself. "We'll find a way out of this place. Perhaps we should head towards the sea. Might be our best chances."
"That's what I've been saying for the last four fucking weeks, but you just didn't want to hear it."
Carley bit her lip and shook her head. "No, no, no, this is not happening again. I've had it with you two!" Carley stated. Lily and Kenny both stared down at the shorter woman, who had gone a little red and flustered. "If we're going to survive, we need to work as a team! No sides. Let's face it, Lee was the only one keeping this group together. Well, Lee's not here anymore, so like it or not, we're a team. Get your shit together guys. I'm not having this!"
There was a moment of silence, when Ben stood up and shrugged. "Carley's right. We have to learn to trust each other if we want to survive this apocalypse."
Carley gave a light smile. "Thanks."
Clementine, Lee and John stood outside the RV. The sun was starting to set, which was never really a good sign. Clementine hid behind Lee, peeking out from behind shyly to take a glance at the young survivor. "Clementine, this is John. He's an old friend of mine. I used to teach at his university." Clementine still hid behind him, holding his Lee's hand for security. "Don't worry, you can trust him…I think."
John rolled his eyes and knelt down onto his knee so he was about eyelevel with Clementine. "Hey there Clementine. Don't worry, I'm not a monster. My group and I, we've got lots of food, water and shelter. We can protect you from the walkers."
"If their leader allows it…we might be able to stay for a little while." Lee said with a smile. Clementine edged her way in front of Lee. She held out her hand for John to shake. John smirked and took her hand. "Yeah, Clementine knows her manners."
"We have a couple of kids back at camp who are about the same age as you. I'm sure you'll get along just fine."
"…Where is your camp?" Clementine asked.
Lee raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, where is your camp John?"
"It's by a broken railway. We've been living in an abandoned train. Five train compartments and two bathrooms. It's made of strong iron so no walkers will be getting in any time soon."
"Sounds a little too good to be true. Train carts…that's pretty damn smart."
"I haven't been on a train in ages." Clementine said with a slight smile.
"Well, it's pretty sweet. Come on, let's go before it gets dark."
Night fall…
"Duck's been asking 'bout Clementine again." Katjaa sighed. Kenny was cooking what looked like a rabbit of some sort over the burning fire. Kenny and Doug were using the planks that Ben had found to keep the flame going. As Kenny tossed another plank into the sizzling flame, Katjaa went on. "I think he's just lonely. He probably just wants someone to talk to."
"He'll get over it." He said simply.
Katjaa frowned and took a seat next to Kenny in one of the green lawn chairs. Carley sat next to Katjaa on her left, her fingertip hovering over the trigger of her gun. Ever since Lee left, Carley hadn't put the thing down once. Perhaps Lily wasn't the only paranoid one anymore. "Carley honey, we're about to eat."
"It's okay Kat. I wasn't hungry anyway." Carley stated, standing from her spot by the fire and pacing over to the hole to stand watch.
"You think she's going to be alright?" Ben asked.
"She's just a little shell-shocked. Ever since Lee left we've all kind of been on the edge." Katjaa said, shaking her head. "Sometimes I wonder if Lee understands…what he's done."
"Of course he doesn't. That man's an idiot." Kenny stated.
"You don't mean that Ken."
"The hell I do. I trusted that man with my life…and now…well, it doesn't matter."
Lee, John and Clem were making their way down a never ending path in the middle of nowhere. John was walking a little faster than them, so he stood in front of the two, leading the way. Clementine held Lee's hand as they walked. "So…how do you like John?" Lee whispered. John was too far ahead to be able to hear them (and if he did, he didn't say anything.)
"He seems alright. I don't know if I trust him yet though. We only met a couple of hours ago."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
"Hey fellas…we're here." John called back. The path ended at the side of a railway. In front of them stood a rusty black and red train that sat on the rails. From the outside, the train appeared to be abandoned. No sign of any light sources or weapons. "We keep ourselves pretty well hidden."
John walked up to the side of the train and gestured for the others to follow. He gave the train a little knock on the side of its metal door. He waited for a moment, when a man with short dark brown hair and dark brown eyes swung the door open. He carried a shot-gun in one hand and a candle in the other. "Hey John, glad you're back. I see you brought a couple of friends with you."
"Guys, this is Omid." John said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Omid, this is Clementine and Lee. They're pretty cool."
"Um, hey guys. You know…Peter isn't going to be happy when he finds out you're bringing strangers into our camp. If anything, you'll just piss him off." John sniggered and shook his head.
"Peter's not the boss of me. Besides, Lee's my friend. I wasn't going to just leave him there to get eaten alive by the dead." Omid rolled his eyes. "He's got a kid Omid."
"Fine, fine, fine, get inside before you start attracting the dead guys." Omid ushered John into the train compartment. Lee used his arms to push himself up onto the platform. He then turned to clementine and lifted her up by her waist and gently put her down in the train. With that, Omid sealed the door clean behind them.
The train had what looked like a broken sofa sitting on one side of the room. On the other sat a green wooden table with a radio placed in the centre of it. At the other end of the train sat a large table that took up most of the width of the train. Candles sat around the train, on the floor and on the tables. "Make yourself at home…I'm going to go tell Christa we've got company so she doesn't end up giving herself a heart attack when she sees you guys." Omid, hop-skipped out of the train compartment and moved into the next cart (presumably where Christa was).
"Christa's pregnant, so she gets her own room." John said, flopping down onto the sofa next to Clementine, who'd already sat down.
"How many of you guys are there?" Lee asked, leaning against the door.
"Well, there's me, Omid, Christa, Peter, Tristan, Jake and the kids, Hannah and Ross. So, that's like…"
"…eight." Lee finished off.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. My math's a little rusty."
"No shit."
"Well you don't have to be a dick about it." John frowned. "The others are out hunting, so you'll just have to sit tight until they get back. I'm going to let you guys rest. Scream if you need anything." The man jumped up to his feet and made his way into the other train compartment. Lee shook his head and walked over to Clementine, who was nervously tapping her feet together. Lee took a seat next to her on the dusty sofa.
"Hey Clem... how are you holding up?"
"Fine I guess." She shrugged. "I feel a little safer now."
"You should. This place is in the middle of nowhere. I doubt anyone will be able to find us." Clementine nodded in agreement. "Why don't you get a little bit of sleep? You must be tired." Clementine frowned. Lee looked at her, puzzled. "What's wrong?"
"This sofa's a little uncomfortable."
"Well, it's better than sleeping on the floor isn't it?"
She hummed, "Yeah I guess…" she slowly began to fall asleep on Lee's shoulder. "Night Lee."
"Night Clem."