There's always hope
Chapter 2: a new friend
Thank you all for reading and reviewing so far. I know it may not look like much, but every little bit counts and I appreciate it. I just about finished this chapter because I spent fricking almost five hours just trying to complete a challenge on my game. It's tired me out a lot.
Anyway, here's chapter 2 and not much to say, other than enjoy the chapter.
"Hey?...Hello...?...Are you okay?"
Clementine's eyes slowly woken to the sound of someone calling out to her. For a moment, she thought it was Lee. She sometimes wished everything that happened to her was a dream and that she would wake up at any moment back at the motor inn, playing games with Duck whilst Lee kept them safe.
Slowly, she opened her eyes to the sound of the voice. She could not remember what happened the previous night, other than when she ran off into the dark woods in the cold rain. The first thing she felt was pain in her arm. Clementine may have stitched up her arm, but she was no doctor and the wound was not one-hundred percent healed.
The second her eyes were open and she could see, Clementine gasped in fear when a figure was standing a mere foot away from her. At first she thought it was one of the cabin group members or a walker. But it was deferentially not either of them. It was a man.
Clementine jumped back in fear and crawled back as much as she could. After yesterday's events, she was not sure if she could trust anyone anymore. "Go away! No!"
The man who was knelt down to her jumped up and placed his hands in front of him. He quickly attempted to calm her down before she did something stupid. "Whoa, relax. It's okay-"
"Get away from me!" Clementine screamed, halting in her tracks when her back came into contact with another tree. Before she could try to escape further, but the pain from her wound shot through her arm. She groaned and clutched her bad arm.
Now that she was basically trapped, Clementine got the chance to observe the man. He looked around in his late twenties, he had a close shave haircut, but she could still see he had black hair once. His ethnicity looked Mexican-American. He wore black leather jacket with a white shirt underneath with a cross necklace across his neck, blue jeans and white shoes. And to top it off, he had a pistol and machete attached to his holster belt and an AK-47 in his hand and a black backpack on his back.
"Whoa, whoa, just calm down." he soothed, remaining where he stood to avoid scaring her further. He could see she was not buying it. To prove he was not dangerous, he placed his AK-47 onto the ground and stood back up to full height. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. Just calm down. Okay?"
Clementine still felt like she could not trust him, but nevertheless, she slowly nodded her head in response.
"My name's Enrico." he introduced with a slight smile across his face. "What's your name?"
"Clem...Clementine." Clementine introduced herself, now breathing a little calmer than before.
"Okay Clementine. Just relax." Enrico soothed, slowly drifting his attention towards her arm where he could see blood smeared across her sleeve. "Are you okay...? You're hurt. I can help you. Will you let me look?"
Clementine still looked unsure, but for the sake of her arm, she allowed him to look. Anything to stop the pain really. She nodded her head for a second time in response.
Slowly, Enrico approached the young girl he stumbled across and knelt to her height. He waited until she offered her arm in front of him to which he gently held and rolled up her sleeve. He cringed slightly when seeing the young in her arm. "That looks nasty. Did a dog bite you?"
"Yes!" Clementine answered in a slightly loud voice. Finally someone had the common sense to recognize her injury. "Are you a doctor?"
"Almost." Enrico replied, examining her wound for a moment. "I was training to be one, but I learnt almost all of the basics. Did, uh, did you try to do this yourself?"
"I had no choice." Clementine explained, narrowing her eyes towards the wound on her arm. "These people, they...It's a long story. Can you fix my arm?"
"No problem." Enrico assured. He just met this little girl and would not let her die out here. "Come on. Let's get out of the open."
Now that Clementine had an ally to help her arm, the two of them made their way to a small area in the middle of the woods surrounded by brush to avoid walkers sneaking up on them. Clementine was still too weak to move on her own, but Enrico was more than happy to carry her until they were somewhere safe. He seemed like a nice man. For now, at least.
Clementine sat on a log whilst Enrico had just finished sewing her arm together with proper stitches. He cleaned her arm with proper medical supplies and now it was feeling much better than before. It may leave a scar across her arm, but it was better than losing it at least.
Enrico grabbed some bandages and wrapped them around her arm a few times until the wound was completely covered up. "There we go. Your arm should recover nicely."
Clementine could not help but show her gratitude towards this stranger who basically saved her life at this point. "Thank you, Enrico."
"No problem. I saw you asleep on the ground and couldn't just leave you there." Enrico explained, turning back towards his backpack on the ground. He began to place all of his medical supplies back into the bag, but he took out something different: a packet of nachos. "You hungry?"
That was a question Clementine could say "no" to. "I'm starving."
"Here you go." Enrico said, handing her the nachos whilst he grabbed himself an energy bar and sat down on another log near Clementine.
Clementine felt like she could eat them all in way, but she had no intention of choking herself to death. She munched away on the nachos and felt better almost immediately.
The two sat in silence for a moment and munched away into their food. Whilst she continued eating, Clementine could not help but feel her luck was beginning to change. Yesterday she lost her friend Christa, got bit by a dog, almost shot and locked in a shed to die. But today she got her arm fixed up and met a stranger who possibly would take care of her from now on.
Enrico finished his food and shifted his attention back towards Clementine. He simply stared towards Clementine as she continued eating. He thought now would be the best to get to know her better, but he hoped he would not push her too hard. "So-o-o-o. If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up here in the middle of Carolina?"
"It's a long story." Clementine admitted, unsure on where to start.
"Well, it's not like we got work or school anymore." Enrico replied in a joking tone.
"Good point." Clementine smirked, setting her food down for a little while as she tried to think back to her life up until the apocalypse began. "My parents left me with a babysitter just before all this happened. My babysitter...She died. This man found me and took care of me. His name was Lee..." it pained her to say his name, but she kept strong and continued her story. "...We met up with other survivors for a while, but all of them died. Me, Lee, my friend Kenny, Christa and her boyfriend Omid, and Ben were the only ones left. The rest of us went to Savannah to find a boat and my parents. I found them...They were walkers...Kenny and Ben died. And then Lee got bit and died...I...I had to shoot him...I was with Omid and Christa. Omid died, and Christa was pregnant, but she lost the baby. I was with her for a long time and we were planning on heading north, but we got attacked by bandits. I don't know where she is. I found a dog but it bit my arm, as you know. This group found me but they didn't know if my bite was a dog bite or a walker bite. Even the doctor wasn't sure."
"A doctor?" Enrico repeated, raising one of his eyebrows up. "How could he not tell the difference?"
"That's what I thought." Clementine agreed before she continued the rest of her story. "They locked me in a shed until they were sure, but I knew I would die from blood loss or the infection in the air would spread inside. I stole their supplies and tried to patch myself up like Christa taught me. I escaped and passed out. And that's when you found me."
Enrico was silent. He did not know what to say or do at this point. This little girl had lost everything she ever had. He did not know what to say next. "...I'm...I'm sorry about everything that's happened to you, Clementine. I know what it's like. I lost my parents too. I watched them and my older brother die. I just can't believe what that group did to you. Jesus..."
"I...I kinda don't know what I'm going to do now." Clementine replied, lowering her head down when she felt like tears were going to drop out of her eyes, but after everything that happened, she had no more tears.
Enrico could not decide her fate, but he would not leave her alone out here. "Well, you mentioned you were heading north, right? To Wellington by any chance?"
"Yeah. That's it." Clementine answered.
"Well, that's why I was heading, too." Enrico explained before he offered her a proposal he hoped she would accept. "Listen Clementine, your friend Christa might still be out there and I think she would continue heading north. You should stick with me. We're both heading to the same location, but it's your choice, of course."
Clementine needed a moment to think his proposition over. She wanted to find Christa if she was still out there somewhere, and like Enrico said: she would most likely continue heading north. And sticking with him might be the best thing for now. "Yeah...I'd like that. I can't keep going on my own."
"Then it's settled." Enrico stated, relieved to have her company him to Wellington. "Well, since it's still morning, we can rest up for a while and then start heading there."
"Sounds like a plan." Clementine agreed until she resumed eating the rest of her nachos to fulfill her hunger.
Now their plan was settled, Clementine and her new guardian Enrico decided to rest up for a while until it was time to move on. Clementine felt relieved to finally meet someone nice and caring instead of the bandits she stumbles across nowadays. Hopefully nothing bad would happen to her during her time with this man.
Carlos and his close friend Luke waited in the living room until the rest of the group were awake. It was time to go and see if Clementine was telling the truth or not regarding her bite.
Luke did agree with locking Clementine into the shed since it was the best option they could get out of the group, but he still felt bad for doing it. "Carlos, are you sure locking her in the shed was a good idea? Even if the bite was from a dog, what if she bleeds to death?"
"It was the only thing we could do for the safety of our group." Carlos explained whilst he had his arms folded together.
The two of them shifted their attention towards the stairs when Nick and Pete made their way downstairs arguing with each other. The two of them had a rough relationship with one another. Nick always tried to accuse Pete of being hard on him all the time and Pete always tried to accuse Nick of being too reckless and never thinking before he acted.
"Just leave me the fuck alone, will ya?" Nick told his uncle whilst he marched down the stairs, holding his Winchester Model 70 in one hand.
"Nick, I'm just telling you to keep your finger off the trigger unless you're sure on what you're aiming it." Pete explained in a normal tone. He kept a cool head whilst Nick was on the verge on losing his temper.
Nick did not reply and sat down on the couch, waiting until it was time to go outside. He always felt like Pete hated him and did nothing but give him a hard time when it was possible. "I'm not an idiot."
"I'm not calling you an idiot. Just saying be careful, is all." Pete warned, standing a few feet away from Carlos and Luke. "You were so close to shooting that girl yesterday. It was lucky you missed her."
"I panicked!" Nick explained, turning towards Carlos and Luke for support, but neither of them showed a look that agreed with him. He turned back towards his uncle and tried to justify his actions. "When I saw her move, I...I thought she was a walker...I just...I didn't mean to be so harsh...I...I..." Nick could not continue further and held a hand over his face. "I just didn't want the same thing to happen again...Not after when...You know..."
Everyone knew what Nick was referring to. Nick's mother/Pete's sister. That took in a bitten victim once and he ended up reanimating into a walker, and before they knew it, he had taken a bite out of shoulder. After Luke killed the walker, Nick took out a Glock 17 and shot his mother in the head to prevent her from coming back as a walker. Since that day, Nick was left broken.
"I'm sorry..." Nick apologized, now shredding tears out from his eyes. "I didn't...Mean..."
Pete could see his nephew was upset and helped comfort him in his time of need. He sat down beside him and hugged him in a fatherly-figure. "It's all right, Nick."
Carlos and Luke could not help but feel sympathy for Nick. He went through so much in his life. His father never was there for him, his mother died, he always tried to do the right thing without thinking. He just wanted to help.
After Nick was calmed down and back to his normal self, the four of them turned their attention towards the stairs when the heard footsteps pressing against the wood, causing it to creak. It was Sarah, who came downstairs dressed in her usual and only pair of clothes. It was unusually for her to be up this early, but nevertheless, no-one was complaining. For now, at least since it would only be a matter of time before Carlos made up one of his famous excuses to keep her from knowing what it was like out there. But everyone in the cabin group understood he loved Sarah and was only trying to protect her.
"Good morning, Dad." Sarah greeted, a yawn followed her greeting. She rubbed her eyes and adjusted her glasses across her eyes.
"Good morning, sweetie." Carlos returned the greeted as he placed his hand upon her shoulder and escorted her towards the kitchen. "Why don't you go and wait in the kitchen? I'll come and make you some breakfast in a few minutes."
"Yeah, sure!" Sarah agreed, the first thing on her mind was breakfast. She ran slightly into the kitchen and sat down by the kitchen table and waited patiently for her father to return. She turned towards the sink and noticed a lot of dishes that needed to be washed. But at the moment, Sarah hoped her dad would not find out about what she did last night, and that was help the younger girl named Clementine fix her up by giving her a bottle of peroxide. Her father surely would not be happy, but then again, how would he knew? For all she knew they would assume Clementine managed to find all that stuff on her own. All she would do was wait.
At perfect timing, when Carlos entered the living room again, Rebecca and Alvin had just walked out of their room downstairs, dressed in their usual and only pair of clothes. Now that everyone was here, it was time to go and check if their guest was telling the truth.
"Okay, let's get this over with." Carlos told the group, acting as their leader like usual. He turned back to his daughter for a moment who still remained in the kitchen. "Sarah, stay inside the cabin and don't come out this time. Okay?"
"Okay." Sarah nodded, but felt a little disappointed since she never got to go outside. When she heard the gunshot yesterday, she could not help but let her curiosity get the best of her and decided to go and have a look. And then later that night, that's when she met Clementine.
"Let's go." Carlos told the group and unlocked the cabin door, leading the way outside. One by one, the others followed him outside, Nick being the last one to leave and closing the door behind him. The cabin group made their way over towards the shed, Nick with his rifle in his grip just in case, but after yesterday's events, he wanted to make sure he did not jump to a conclusion.
Luke stood before the group and unlocked the shed. He turned back towards the group and gave them a slow nod to let them know they needed to be prepared. They all understood and returned the nod. Slowly, he gripped both of his hands against the shed handles and with one great pull, he opened both of them simultaneously and quickly took a step back just in case.
The group was horrified when their eyes witnessed what was inside. There was a dead walker inside. How in the world did it get in? And mostly importantly, where in the world was Clementine? Carlos marched inside the shed with an angry expression across his face, approaching the walker that was impaled against the wall. He noticed a few marks against its head, suggesting it had been hit.
"What the hell happened?" Nick asked, standing back and keeping his rifle holstered.
"It didn't eat her, did it?" Alvin asked, folding his arms together across his chest.
"No." Carlos simply answered. He stood up and leaned forward towards a table when he noticed his bottle of peroxide, fishing wires and an empty juice box on the side. He turned towards the dead walker again where he spotted a hole in the corner. It had been there since they first arrived and they decided to patch a blank of wood against it, but obviously it did not work. He put two and two together and turned back towards the group. "By the looks of it, she must have crawled out through that hole and snuck into our cabin and stole our supplies."
"She snuck in?" Rebecca repeated, a face full of anger rising, but that was more than likely due to her pregnancy. "How the fuck did she do that? Wouldn't we have noticed?"
"We were all in the kitchen during our meeting." Carlos stated the obvious. "She must have found our supplies and snuck back into the shed. A lurker found its way in, but I assume she killed it and escaped."
"She killed a walker all on her own?" Pete asked, slightly surprised to what this little girl was capable of that he had to give her credit for that. "Wow, that little girl was tough as nails."
The cabin group was now silent and was unsure on what to do. But what could they do? She was gone now and hunting her down would be a challenge, but what would be the point? Either way she had patched up her arm now and was probably miles away.
"So, what do we do now?" Luke asked Carlos as he placed his hands upon his hips. But he had a nervous and concerned look across his face, possible for Clementine. After all, he and Pete were the only ones to believe her.
"There's nothing we can do." Carlos responded, picking up the bottle peroxide and the needle before proceeding out of the shed. He marched through the group and made his way back towards the cabin, the others followed closely.
The rest of the cabin group did not say anything further and followed the doctor back into the cabin. Nothing they could now except for maybe try to put this incident behind them and maybe move on from it. However, Luke and Pete could not help but wonder if they did the right thing with agreeing with Carlos to lock her up in shed, but now they will never know if Clementine was telling the truth or not.
And that is chapter 2, ladies and gentlemen, and here we meet my first Walking Dead OC Enrico. If anyone is interested in finding out more detail about him, there will be a biography on my profile.
Well, I'm done with this chapter. Clementine and Enrico will now work together and make their way up north. Stay tuned for chapter 3 if you wish to continue reading. Until then, ciao.