Thedarkpokemaster-Ben doesn't know exactly what Chris is talking about but he is concerned with the way he's been talking about everything. Meanwhile Carly and Lee met for the first time and already he's worried about his secret getting out, he just hopes Carly is a woman of her word.
EroSlackerMicha-Well the true tragedy is the tragedy of determinant characters, despite telltale making great stories and awesome characters the minute that they become determinant you know they are going to die in some offhand way...Kenny *cough* *cough*
Smeake-Thanks man, glad you liked it and hope you like this one.
Worker72-So for you last three reviews I can basically say that this whole story will improve on the dismal character development from the last one, hopefully you and everyone else will grow to be much more connected to the characters and actually feel some impact if they die. Onto Ben, Julie and Chris...you never know you may just get your wish.
Enjoy
Chapter 4: Group Reunion
Rick and Dale had left early the next morning heading down to Hershel's Farm, they had reached the outskirts of the farm within two hours of driving. Rick told Dale to pull the RV over before they reached the entrance, "I'm gonna head up alone alright? We have no clue what kind of state Hershel is in." Rick said as he got up and headed towards the door,
"Alright I'll just wait here, I hope you know what you're doing." Dale replied with a bit of worry in his words as Rick walked out of the RV and started walking up the road,
Meanwhile at the farm Mark was walking the perimeter of the fence when he spotted Doug kneeling down, "Hey Doug what's going on?" Mark asked as he slung his rifle over his shoulder,
"I'm just finishing up my latest invention. With the walkers showing up more and more I figure we could use a little heads up. I set up some wires around the house, if anything trips it one of these bells will go off." Doug explained with a smile,
"Huh seems interesting but I don't-" Mark started to say only for one of the bells to let out a ring,
Doug and Mark both knelt down quickly, "That's the north side." Doug whispered over.
Mark took his rifle of his shoulder and aimed up the road where he saw Rick walking up the road, "Holy shit Doug it actually worked." Mark said in surprise,
"Of course it did, how many of them are there?" Doug asked as he tried to peer over the fence,
"Just one...wait a minute. I don't think that's a walker." Mark said slowly,
"Then what is it?" Doug asked confused,
"It's Rick!" Mark exclaimed happily,
"Rick?!" Doug replied with a grin, "Holy moly, it is him!" Doug said standing up along with Mark,
Rick spotted the pair and quickly jogged over, "Guys! It's so good to see you again." He said as he took Mark's hand and gave him a firm shake,
"You too!" Mark said with a grin,
"What are you doing here Rick? Where are the others?" Doug asked very concerned,
"It's all okay, and I'll explain but I want to talk to Hershel first." Rick said easily,
Mark looked over at Doug concerned, with the way things ended between Hershel and Rick, them meeting again could go several ways. "Uh, yeah, alright. Just follow me, he's with Billy and Glenn out back." Mark said turning around leading him towards the barn,
As they walked Rick sniffed the air smelling something odd and his eyes bugged out as he saw a large pillar of smoke, "Oh God!" Rick exclaimed expecting the worst,
Doug quickly reached out and grabbed his shoulder, "Relax, they're just burning the bodies of the last walker attack."
Rick let out a nod and continued to walk around the house until he spotted Hershel and the others. "Rick!" Glenn exclaimed as he turned around,
"Hey Glenn." Rick said with a grin as he gave him a quick hug. He turned his attention to Hershel and Billy, Hershel's youngest and last living son, who were standing in front of a large body pile that was burning away, "Jesus, looks like you guys are getting hit hard."
Glenn let out a nod, "No kidding, we think the cold was slowing them down but with Spring coming they just keep showing up."
"Yeah, we're lucky that we have the extra man power." Billy said with a nod, "Doug here has been getting pretty creative, which has been sweet."
Doug let out a smirk and laughed, "Just doing my part."
"Still food's getting tighter and the walkers are getting concerning." Mark said bringing the group back to the point,
Rick let out an easy smile, "Well then I have some good news for all of you. We found a prison, just a few hours up the road, it's stocked to the brim with food and water. Not to mention that it has three large chain link fences surrounding the whole place. Now we've cleared out the yard and one of the cell block from walkers. It is completely safe and we have more than enough room for all of you, that's why i'm here. Dale's parked just up the road, i'm hoping you'll all pack up and come back with us." Rick explained,
"That…" Hershel finally said as he slowly turned his head away from the flames and back to Rick, "That makes a whole lot of sense."
Within the hour Hershel had his whole family packed up, Otis and Mark offered to stay behind to keep an eye on the livestock until they could figure out a way to bring them over to the prison itself. Hershel, Glenn, Doug, Patricia, Billy, Maggie, Rachel and Susie, Hershel's two youngest daughters both eight, loaded into Dale's RV and took off back towards the prison.
Back at the prison Tyreese had quickly called the whole group together for a meeting in the cafe an hour after Rick and Dale left. "Alright everybody listen up! Now I know we've been pushed pretty hard and I like all of you want nothing more to just head right back to bed." Tyreese said with a chuckle getting some laughs in response, "But before we can even think about doing that we need to handle a few more things around the prison. As i'm sure you're all aware by the stench, we have some burning to do. Those bodies can't stay in the yard much longer, if Rick is bringing back Hershel he'll need clean land to work with." Everyone murmured in agreement. "Next on deck is making sure that the other cell blocks are secured, we can't have any roamers sneaking up on us. Now that's pretty much it other than one last little thing, well not exactly little. I need to put together a team that will be able to clear out the gym, after that we're gonna have a lot more bodies to pull out and burn."
Carly let out a short scoff, "Tyreese I know we need to get this all done but we can't get this all done today, it's just not possible." Carly said firmly causing some people to murmur in agreement,
"I get it seems like a lot but once it's done we'll never have to do it again." Tyreese said trying to rally the group,
"Hey…" Lee said standing up causing everyone to look over to him. He could see some of them were genuinely interested in what he was going to say while others, like Lori, were almost angered with him speaking up, "I don't really know what you're all capable of but even if we all pulled together the amount of bodies we have to burn and drag out of this cell block will already keep up busy all day. In fact if you pull man power away to deal with the gym we may not even finish it today." Lee said a bit halfheartedly unsure if his input was wanted, "I think we should listen to her on this."
"What do you mean we?" Lori said coldly, "What are you all even doing here?" She said glaring at the six prisoners,
The six men looked at each other a bit confused, "We came to help, figure ya'll could use it." Chuck said while crossing his arms,
"And we appreciate it." Tyreese quickly spoke up, "I'll tell you what we'll put it to a vote, everyone who agrees with Carly raise your hands now." Tyreese said then looked around the room slowly counting the hands, it became evident that the majority did agree with her, "Alright that settles it, we'll save the gym for tomorrow but we shouldn't wait any longer than that." Tyreese paused then took a deep breath, "Alright so we still need to put together a securing team. Now this isn't going to be that hard so I think Julie, Ben, Carly and Chuck could handle that. Are you willing to do that Chuck?" Tyreese asked only for Chuck to nod in response, "Good, Now Lori, Katjaa and Carol I hope you two could watch over the kids while the rest of us start working on the burning."
"Of course." Katjaa replied with a soft smile,
"Thank you, alright everyone finish up your breakfast and meet me outside so we can start." Tyreese said as he headed out of the cafeteria followed by the ones already finished with breakfast.
As soon as Tyreese was out of the cafeteria and everyone else went back to eating Chris started to stir up trouble. He glared hardly at Ben for minutes until Ben finally spoke up, "W-what man?"
"How the fuck did you convince Tyreese to let you and Julie together? Do you really think i'm gonna let you take her away from me?" Chris shot out with a venomous tone,
"What are you talking about? I didn't do anything." Ben said with a fearful tone,
"Chris stop! Ben's not trying to do anything." Julie said with narrowed eyes,
Chris looked back to her and to her surprise he seemed even more angry than before, "Don't you fucking let this happen, We are suppose to be together forever Julie and you know it."
"Dude will you stop saying that, it's getting weird." Ben said more out of concern than anger,
"You wouldn't get it, you don't know what love is. You don't get what you have to do to preserve it." Chris said almost madly, "Julie you know and don't like a little fucking-" Chris started to rant,
"Enough! Ben come on, my dad is waiting for us." Julie shouted out and stood up, she took hold of Ben's arm and pulled him out of his seat, quickly leading him out of the room. Chris narrowed his eyes and watched the pair leave the cafeteria with a stoic face.
Nearly twenty minutes later everyone had finally gather outside, "Alright everybody let's get to work, let's give Rick a nice surprise when he gets back." Tyreese said and everyone began to disperse. Another hour past as everyone worked dragging bodies into a large pile, they made a small dent but one glaring thing stood out to Dexter, the newcomers didn't want to be anywhere near them. Finally as the prisoners continued to work Dexter spoke up, "This is absolute horse shit." He said bitterly,
"Gotta get done you follow me?" Axel said figuring he was referring to the work,
"He's right, besides it's a good way to build some trust with these people. We're gonna be living together for awhile." Lee said as he took hold of a walkers arms and started to drag it,
"No it isn't these fucking bodies it's them." Dexter said with a nod to the others, "They expect us to do all this work, share our food. And what do we get in return? We get bitched at, and looked down upon. How fucked up is that?" Dexter said as he wiped his brow,
"He's right man, these people don't want us here. They are just using us for our stuff." Andrew said in agreement,
Thomas, Axel and Lee looked at the pair unimpressed, "Guys these here are good people, we aren't exactly the most friendly looking type you follow me? It's gonna take some time for them to warm up to us." Axel said shaking his head,
"Exactly, you need to just relax. Hell some of these people are already warming up to us, Tyreese seems to trust Chuck enough to put him on a team. Regardless don't do anything stupid to make them hate us anymore than they already do." Lee said as he picked up the walker with Axel's help and chucked it onto the pile,
"You guys are fucking weak, you'll know i'm right when they try and kick us out." Dexter said with a grumble as he lowered his head and went back to focusing on his work.
Ironically the others were talking about the prisoners at that exact moment, "So what do you guys think about them? I can't really get a read on them." Andrea said looking around at the group,
"No idea, don't trust 'em can tell you that much." Kenny said with a frown, "That guy Dexter seems like he could be a problem and the other one, Lee? He just doesn't sit right with me, something about him is just off."
"Really? Those two, that's what you're concerned about?" Tyreese said genuinely surprised,
"Yeah, ain't you?" Kenny replied,
"No. Lee seems like a good guy, sure Dexter is a little rough around the edges but he seems cool. Even those two older one…" Tyreese said thinking,
"Axel and Chuck." Andrea said finishing his thought,
"Yeah Axel and Chuck, they don't seem like a problem. I actually think they fit pretty well here. Now Andrew and Thomas...they seem off. Ones crazy the other is just straight up creepy." Tyreese said with a glance over to them,
"They all seem like assholes to me." Chris interjected,
Tyreese rolled his eyes at Chris's thought while Andrea shook her head, "Thomas, he seems nerdy. I doubt he could heart a fly, besides tax dodging. That's hardly a crime that would make him dangerous."
"Yeah I guess you right about that." Tyreese said with a small nod, "Regardless of our feelings they haven't done anything wrong to us and if we're being honest here I think we need every living person to fight back against those ghouls." Tyreese said looking over to the fences that had a few walkers pushing against them,
"Got me there." Kenny said with a nod, he knew that too many people had already died so the more in here to help the better the chance to rest civilization.
Meanwhile Carly's team had just finished checking B Block's doors and were happy to report they were locked and sealed. Chucked moved to one of the doors and pressed his ear to the door for a moment, "What are you doing?" Ben asked confused only for Chuck to put his finger up to his lips,
The three of them watched him for a moment then he slowly pulled back, "Gotta be a few dozen in there, that's bad right?" Chuck asked Carly,
"Yeah, but we'll be able to handle it." Carly said confidently, "Alright come on let's check over A Block then get back to Tyreese, i'm sure he needs our help." As the group walked Ben and Julie lagged behind giving both pairs a bit of privacy. Carly's mind was oddly occupied by Lee Everett. Over all her years as a reporter she met all types of scumbags, some murders others radical political activists and almost everyone one of those people had something in common, they always felt justified. Yet even when she called out Lee for his crimes he didn't deny it, he didn't try to justify himself in the slightest. She peered over to Chuck and thought maybe she could learn a bit about Lee from him, "Hey Chuck could I ask you something?"
"Shoot." Chuck said with a nod,
"That man Lee, you were trapped in that room with him for months, how did he handle it?" She asked curiously,
"Lee?" Chuck asked with a raised eyebrow. Chuck thought about it for a few minutes then said, "He had to deal with a lot of shit from Dexter, some men would have lost it and done something final but not him. Despite everything he kept his cool, and kept the peace." Chuck explain,
"Huh, no kidding." Carly said nodding slowly, "How much do you know about him anyway?"
Chuck looked back over to her getting a read on her then said, "Same as you, we both know he ain't in her for stealing."
Carly looked at him surprised, "You know?"
"Yeah he told me day one, must've figured lying was a safer choice. Hard to say I blame him, that woman, the pregnant one, she doesn't seem to hold a light to any of us." Chuck replied,
"Her names Lori and you're not wrong. We figure that it's probably just hormones, you know just some crazy pregnant talk." Carly said with a light hearted laugh,
Chuck nodded slowly then as Carly quieted down he spoke up again, "So what's got you so interested in him anyway?"
"Oh! It's-it's nothing, just some curiosity. Being a reporter for ten years left it's mark on me, I always like to learn more about people." Carly said making up something quick, in reality she couldn't really say why she was so interested in him but it sure as shit wasn't just plain curiosity.
Just behind them Ben and Julie were talking about Chris of course, "Ben I am so, so sorry about how Chris has been acting towards you." Julie said sincerely,
Ben let out a small nod and went quiet, he took a deep breath and looked back to Julie, "So we've become pretty good friends right?" He asked rubbing the back of his neck,
"That'd be an understatement Ben, you're my only other friend here other than Chris and me and Chris fight you and me don't." Julie said with a little smirk,
"Right, right, so keeping that in mind I just want to, I don't know, bring something up." Ben said trying to build up the courage to say what he wanted to,
Julie could easily see what was coming but she chose to let Ben talk, "Sure, go ahead."
"Chris, he says some crazy stuff. I mean he kinda talks like he owns you or something." Ben carefully said,
Julie went a little quiet before hanging her head, "I know...Chris has a lot of demons in him. He's not a bad person, he's helped me through so much and he's just so afraid of being alone." Julie explained, "But I know you're right, I think i'm just with him because he's all I got left."
Ben nodded, "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up. It's none of my business." Ben said apologetically,
"No, it's-it means alot coming from you, knowing that you care." Julie said as she took his hand into hers. Ben's eyes widened a bit in surprise as Julie kept her hand firmly gripping his.
Hours later Dale finally approached the Prison's gate, "Alright here we are, home sweet home." He said looking back over to Rick,
"No kidding." Rick said walking over to the door, "Guys give me a hand gotta pull this gate open." Glenn, Billy, and Doug quickly got up and followed Rick out of the RV and pulled the gate open quickly. Dale wasting no time rolled the RV through the gates while Rick and the others closed it up behind him. "There we go, safe at last." Rick said with a grin,
"Rick this place really is amazing." Doug said in awe as he looked around, "Just hope the prison beds aren't too uncomfortable."
"Speak for yourself, i'd sleep on the floor as long as these fences surrounded me." Billy said smiling widely,
The group caught back up to the RV, "You guys go ahead and start grabbing your stuff, I gotta go check in with Tyreese, looks like he's been keeping busy." Rick said to the others as he went off searching for Tyreese. It didn't take long to find Tyreese tossing one of the last bodies into the large burning fire, "Hey, how's the fort held up in my absence?" Rick asked as he unzipped his jacket,
"Fort? Thought it was a prison." Tyreese said with a smirk as he wiped his hands off on his pants, "No but seriously it's been going good since you left. We were able to make sure the other cell blocks were secure while clearing out our cell block of bodies as well as burning them all. Only thing we didn't get to was the gym, was a little group vote and they thought this was enough for one day. Gotta admit they were right." Tyreese said while wiping his forehead,
"So everyone settling in well?" Rick asked,
"Well I had Chuck, the old guy, join the team to secure the perimeter. That went well, Carly said he seemed like a good man. The other prisoners helped out with the burning of the bodies in the yard, Thomas, the nerdy guy, he eventually stopped and helped the women with moving beds around and moving in generally. Honestly they are all good in my book, Lori though...not really liking them, you'll probably hear about that later." Tyreese said firmly,
"Good to know, thanks." Rick said as the pair started to walk over to the RV where the others were unloading what they took from the farm,
As they approached they saw a small group reunion going on as Andrea gave Glenn a tight hug while Carly greeted Doug warmly. Just as Rick and Tyreese were enjoying the moment Lori came storming towards them, "Oh boy." Tyreese whispered out,
"Look Rick I need to talk to you right now!" Lori said with a boom in her voice,
"What's going on hon?" Rick asked walking up to her,
"I can't do this, we're living with hardened criminals! I'm constantly looking over my shoulder!" She explained,
"We can't just kick them out, besides they seem like nice enough folks." Rick said only for Lori to start yelling again,
"No Rick they seem like hardened criminals! Why do you assume the best in people?!" Lori shouted out furiously,
"Lori, calm down. We have the guns, we outnumber them. We're safe. Now I wouldn't leave the kids alone with them but they've given us no reason to treat them like criminals." Rick said putting his hands on her cheeks,
"You're right!" Lori exclaimed bursting into tears, "I'm a horrible person!" She said burying her head into Rick's shoulder,
Rick looked over to a worried Tyreese, "Hormones." Rick explained with a little smirk as he held Lori,
Lori let out a little laugh and socked him in the arm, "Hey I can't help it, don't make fun of me!"
"I wasn't! He just looked worried!" Rick said as Tyreese let out a laugh and headed over to help unload the RV.
Alright so here we are another chapter down and not only that this is my first chapter that is all brand new, in fact everything in this chapter was skimmed over entirely in my original telling so I hope you enjoyed the extra scenes. I look forward to you reviews!