Approx. 861 Days In, Early Dawn
It's always the little things that you take for granted.
Golden rays of sunlight shining through the open window, temporarily blinding groggy, tired eyes. Spending an amount of time laying in bed afterwards that most would call ridiculous, claiming that it's to "wake up". Following this would be the daily routine of doing nothing exciting or remotely interesting, as the dawn turns to dusk, then settling down in the same position to do the same thing tomorrow.
Three years ago, it was how Jane lived her life. At the time, she didn't think much of it. She didn't complain, but it was just routine. While she may not have objected to a few more spices thrown onto the feast of her life, this was certainly not a good alternative.
Over eight-hundred days later, and it's more of a struggle to survive with each and every one that passes. Back in the past, having the time to rest a weary mind for a third of the day was an expectancy, nothing unusual. Nowadays, it was a miracle occurring once in a blue moon to have the ability to sit and recollect lost thoughts for five minutes.
So naturally, when an opportunity like this arises, Jane would be grateful for the ability to revel in something like this for once, even if she doesn't show it.
Golden rays of sunlight formed a warm and glistening sight on the ghostly white snow that was neatly set on the forest's floor. The sun slowly crept into the sky, Jane taking notice that she must have slept through the entirety of the night. She couldn't help but notice, also, that instead of heading for Howes, Mike had the trio looking for Arvo. In the middle of the woods, with no leads other than Mike's constant reassuring of "He went this way!".
They'd been looking for almost thirty minutes. This was stupid, and they were all wasting their time. Jane took this as a chance to break the silence, staring only straight forward as she spoke.
"This is stupid." She said, disdain obvious in her tone. "We're wasting our time."
"Come on. Don't be like that!" Mike said, quick to defend. "We've only been out here for what, ten minutes?"
"More like thirty." Jane shot back. "We're not going to find him. We have nothing to go on."
"You've been keepin' count?" Bonnie asked.
Jane only responded with a sigh and a roll of her eyes, instead opting to continue her train of thought. "We cut our losses and head back on the path, towards Howes."
"But Arvo! He's-"
"He's dead. Or he's safe. He's not going to be just sitting in these woods somewhere, waiting for us to find him. If he is still out here somehow and didn't find anything, we don't have the supplies to help him, anyway." Jane finished, placing a hand on her hip.
"I know it's not likely, but we gotta look. We didn't go this far just to give up on him!" Mike protested, crossing his arms and furrowing his brow.
"Enough!" Bonnie shouted, grabbing the attention of her two companions. "We can compromise, alright? Jane, we can give it a bit more time, and if we don't find him, we'll head straight for Carver's place, alright?" The ginger-haired woman spoke, eyes darting between the other woman and Mike.
"Fine." Jane spoke dignified, "but when we find him, and he's a walker, I'm not the one putting him down." She added with a spiteful tone.
"Jane, don't say that!" Bonnie said wide-eyed, a mix of horror and disgust in her voice. Her voice calmed some before she spoke again, "Don't worry, Mike. We'll find him. Let's get movin'."
Golden rays of sunlight shone brightly into Jane's eyes. It felt like they'd been walking for hours since the small argument earlier, but in reality she knew it was only around thirty minutes once more.
Jane gave an audible exhale at the thought of the time they were wasting, her breath visibly permeating in the forest's frigid winter air. Maybe it was a way to vent frustration, or perhaps it was a call for attention. Regardless, it seemed to catch Mike's, Jane noticing the man swaying his walking to meet hers.
"Hey, look. I know you think this is pointless, but he can't be much farther. We've been out here an hour now. We're gonna find him, and then we'll head to Howes." He said, forming his frost-chapped lips into what seemed to be a smile. A painfully obvious fake-smile, but Jane gave him points for effort.
"What's got you clinging to him like this? All he's caused us is trouble." Jane started, angrily. "Luke... Clem... and we're out here freezing, so he can be the lucky one! The one who lives another day."
Mike sighed, "That's not fair! You can't blame that stuff all on him, when me or Kenny or anyone else are just as guilty! I know you're upset about Clem, but-"
"Don't." Jane cut the man off bitterly, contorting her face into an angry glare. The last thing she wanted to think about was Clementine. All she wanted to do was get to Howes where they'd be safe, but of course Mike had to make it difficult.
"Alright! Sorry..." Mike said awkwardly,"All I'm sayin' is, we've come too far on the kid to give up on him now. He deserves a second chance, just like anyone else."
She wanted to scream. Scream at Mike for being such an idiot, for throwing away everything for some kid who is probably dead and did nothing but make their lives worse. She wanted to leave, just like she always did when things got difficult.
While she couldn't say just what it was, something felt different. Something that compelled her to stay, to make it work.
So she didn't scream. She continued walking in silence, to the right of Mike, Bonnie taking charge in front of the both of them. Jane thought about how unusual it was for Bonnie to be the one leading, but didn't think much of it.
"Hey." The man to her left said softly.
Not expecting the noise after the silence they'd mutually shared for the past five or so minutes, she responded simply, "Hey."
"I'm sorry about what happened. I didn't want to start shit, but I can't give up on him."
"I understand." She nodded swiftly, not in the mood to argue.
"And, uh, about Clem-"
"Look, I don't-"
"Just let me finish." Mike said, stepping over the the literary mess the duo's words had just created. "I'm sorry about bringing up Clem like that earlier. It... wasn't cool. I know what it's like to mess up, to do something you ain't proud of, believe me."
"Don't we both." The brunette said solemnly, eyes burrowing into the snow-coated dirt as she marched.
"Heh. Yeah. I guess so." Mike replied, shifting his gaze away from the woman. "I was involved in some stuff I don't like remembering."
"Like what?" Jane asked, her interest sparked.
"Back when all this started, the first few months..." He paused,
The two walked in an awkward silence. Once again, the only sound to grace any ears was the sound of the raging blizzard, determined to consume anything in a wake of frost and wind.
Unusually, it wasn't Jane who was keeping her distance from the group. Bonnie was far ahead of the two of them, being the first to trek the path they followed. The woman seemed to be lost in some sort of thought, continuing her walk ahead in a trance.
Opting to leave Bonnie to what she was doing, Jane divided her attention elsewhere. Back off into her own thoughts, perhaps. While the complaints she had traveling with others could fill a list longer than that of the most spoiled child list for Santa, she definitely welcomed the distraction it gave from her inner conscious.
She welcomed it when she turned over and saw Mike about to say something, before hearing the woman in front of her give out an exaggerated, "Ow!" after a particularly long tree branch struck across her face, carving in red along the path it crossed. Mike seemed to notice this as well, prompting him to speak up.
"You alright, Bonnie?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nicked myself good there, but I'll get by alright..." Bonnie said, bringing her hand up to her cheek. Taking a bit of blood down with it as she brought it back to her side, she continued her walk, Jane and Mike not far behind.
Once again, the now-familiar dead hum of the chilling winds burrowed into her ears. Both confused by Bonnie's vast attitude change, and intimidated by the encroaching silence, Jane decided to question Mike on the matter. She always preferred when other people were the ones to start a conversation, but it's not really possible to be choosy anymore.
"Hey." She said in an awkward tone, starting off the conversation about as well as she had expected.
"Hey." The man replied back, an influx of boredom in his voice.
"How should I ask this?" The question rolled around in her head, clearly giving her a bit of trouble.
"You alright?" Mike asked, a bit more concern in his voice.
"Oh, um, yeah. It's just... what happened to her?"
"Bonnie? Whaddya mean?"
"I dunno, I figured you'd know her better than I would." She admitted. "I know she isn't usually this distant, though."
"Nah. That's you, if anyone! ...Usually." Mike added with a small, forced laugh. Jane only stared awkwardly for a moment before Mike continued. "I think she's just a bit intimidated by you. Surprised, maybe."
"Really? How come?" Lowering her tone slightly with the fear of Bonnie overhearing, Jane turned her head to see the woman still marching in front of her, concentration unwavered from the forest floor she followed contently. She turned back to Mike after hearing him speak once more.
"Last night, she was tellin' me how much she regrets doing what we did. She thinks you hate her, I think."
While Jane still had a bitter taste in her mouth thinking about the 'stunt' Bonnie and Mike pulled, she was willing to put it behind them in the interest of what was happening now. She held no contempt for the woman, but as she thought about it, it made sense that she'd feel how she did about the events.
Before either of them could open their mouths to speak, an ear-splitting screech filled the air. The duo hastily averted their attention to the source of the noise.
Bonnie was suddenly and, rather pitifully, holding back a lone walker, said walker being mere inches away from tearing into the woman's throat. "Help! Please! G-Get it off me!", she pleaded desperately.
Springing to her defense, Jane quickly made a dash for the woman and her rotting assailant.
"Mike! Smash this thing!" She screamed, hoping he would follow without question.
"Just do it!" He shouted back, bringing his foot down with force as Jane threw the walker onto the ground, freeing Bonnie.
"Jesus... that was close. Bonnie, you okay?" Mike gestured towards the woman, briefly staring down at the corpse he had just permanently put out of commission.
"I'm so sorry, I- I wasn't payin' attention, I just-"
While Mike attempted to comfort Bonnie, Jane's attention was caught by the recently mangled corpse that lay still in a pile of crimson snow. More specifically, the blood that coated the creature's mouth, having been bathed on it's teeth seemingly recently.
"This thing is covered in blood." Jane said aloud.
"I ain't bit! I swear!" Bonnie defended, voice cracking as she shouted.
"We can't take any chances. Mike, check her for bites."
"Yeah. Okay." Mike complied, as did Bonnie. The latter of which stretching her arms to her sides as Mike searched for any damage.
"Well?" Jane said, a bit too impatiently.
"I don't see anything." Mike answered blankly.
"I ain't bit. I just got jumped, that's it!" Bonnie said, having calmed down considerably, "There's blood on the snow, and it ain't mine. I was lookin' at it and the damn thing got the jump on me... I'm sorry, I shoulda been ready, I-"
"It's alright, don't worry about it. Just, uh, be more careful, yeah?" Mike teased, patting the woman gently on the shoulder.
"You don't gotta tell me twice." She returned, giving a nervous, half-hearted laugh, "Jane, what are you lookin' at?"
Jane had occupied herself with the blood Bonnie had mentioned, assuming it wasn't the woman in question's blood herself, it was an interesting discovery. While blood is hardly a sight to take note of in the world they live in now, the scarlet trail was light and, upon touch, rather warm for the snow it lay in.
"This blood is fresh." Jane stated. "And it's not yours, Bonnie?"
"No. Check me again if you don't believe me, honest!"
"I believe you. Relax." The woman shot back, mildly irritated. "But if it's not ours, and it's not a walkers..."
"Then he's gotta be nearby! Shit, he might be hurt..." Mike said anxiously.
"Might?" Jane shot back, "Whoever this was, they were hit pretty hard to leave more than a few drops of blood like this. Besides, we don't even know if it's him."
"Who else is gonna be out in the middle of the freezing cold woods?"
"Nobody is sitting at home drinking hot chocolate out of their goddamn coffee mug, Mike. It could be anyone, there's nothing telling us this was Arvo."
"I mean, it coulda been one of those guys from the RV, Mike...", Bonnie added.
"Exactly!" Jane said, visibly happy that someone was finally showing some sense.
"But I still think we should follow it. It's our best bet at findin' the kid, and we're already out here." Bonnie concluded, much to Jane's dismay.
"Look, Jane, I know you think this is a waste of time. But we'll check this out, and if we find him, or we don't, or whatever... then we'll do what you want." Mike said, bargaining with the now irritated woman.
"It's not what I want, it's what's best for all of us. But fine, we'll finish your little search. Just be prepared for the worst." Jane pessimistically finished.
Mike didn't reply verbally, only forming a small but noticeable frown before leading the trio's walk along the scattered blood trail.
"You didn't need ta say that." Bonnie said, surprisingly stern. Jane opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off, "It's fine. I just... we're all we got left, now. We gotta help each other out, not put each other down, yeah?"
"...yeah." Jane agreed, feeling slightly bad about her eagerness to share her unpopular opinion. She was only being honest, though; they probably wouldn't find him. Even if they did, from the looks of it, he had been bitten or at least injured. She decided to keep this to herself, though, and followed behind her two companions at a slow but determined pace.
The trail didn't last long, maybe a full minute, but even that was stretching the truth. It felt longer, though. A lot of things did. The trail had winded a bit, almost as if the being that left the trail had a set destination in mind.
When the trail ran cold, the trio were met with a sight they weren't particularly jumping to see.
"That's the RV. This trail ends here, it's the only place he, or whoever, coulda gone..." Bonnie assessed.
"Shit... shit. What do we do?" Mike asked. "We shouldn't fuck with those guys. We're lucky they didn't chase us before, but damn were they mad. Who knows what they'd do to us if we just showed up at their door?"
The two both looked over at the brunette-haired woman, who now seemed to default to the defacto leader of their group when the others didn't want to carry the burden.
"Why is it on me? This wasn't my idea, and plus, you've seen these guys. I haven't." Jane argued.
"Fuck, I don't know... maybe- maybe we should just go. I really don't wanna mess with these guys, man."
"What are we up against, exactly?" Jane said, kneeling down behind a bush to get a better glimpse of the vehicle the three were watching. It stood out well in the snow-covered field, bordering the edge of the forest they found themselves in.
"Uhh.. There was these three guys, they had guns and they chased us around fer a bit. Or, they were gonna. I dunno, we lost 'em fast if they did chase us. We made it a point to not go too close, not get seen outta the forest, but then we saw you, an' you know from there." Bonnie re-accounted, positioning herself behind a tree to avoid any unwanted attention.
"Yeah, they were real crazy. Shoutin' and shit, I think one of them might've even fired a shot or two." Mike added, finding a comfortable position of his own among the foliage.
"Hmm..." Jane hummed under her breath. "I still think we should cut and go. If this isn't a sign, I don't know what is." She concluded.
"You wanna just up an' give up after we spent all day out here?" Bonnie protested.
"I didn't want to waste our time on this search in the first place." Jane said bitterly, "but if we're going through with this, let's get it over with. No point in wasting time."
"Mike?" Bonnie questioned, "What should we do?"
"Fuck, man... fuck... alright. If you're both willing to go through with it... let's do it." Mike answered, his voice drifting away gradually as he spoke. "I just hope we aren't wasting our time, that they've got him and are fixin' him up or somethin'."
As the trio crept slowly upon the stationary, likely no longer functioning vehicle, Jane couldn't shake the trumping thought of just how stupid this idea really was. These men have guns, and according to Bonnie and Mike, don't take well to strangers. If they did have Arvo, why would they be fixing him up? Would Arvo even be here? Before Jane could sit on the thought any longer, the three of them were already lined up against the backside of the RV.
"Alright, we're here. What next?" Mike whispered to Jane, the brunette woman simply gesturing for her two companions to follow.
"Here." She said, taking a stance to the right of the door. Mike situated himself to the left, and Bonnie remained in the back, not far behind Mike. "Do we know if anyone's in here, or what?"
"Well, I don't know why there wouldn't be anyone in there... I'm starting to have second thoughts about this."
"God..." Jane mumbled under her breath, "This is stupid. I'm going to peek in the window on the door there. If there's anyone in there we don't know, we leave, Arvo or no. If there isn't, we'll go in, sound good?"
"Yeah... yeah, okay. Let's do that. We should-" Mike cut off his own speech, going silent as he heard a noise that sounded like a door opening.
The RV's door flung open, revealing a bulky man in a thin, dirty white shirt and cargo pants, not at all appropriate for the freezing weather they were all experiencing. The man stood confidently, holding a pistol in his hand with his other hanging idle.
"Heh. I didn't expect any visitors." His voice was gravelly, with a prevalent tone of sarcasm. "I'd like to know what brings you folks to our humble little abode here. We weren't disturbin' you, were we?"
Jane opened her mouth to answer the man, but Mike had her beat to the punch, "No, we're only looking for our friend. He's got glasses and a purple hoodie, and his hair's sorta a dirty blonde, and..."
"Maybe I've seen him, I'll think about it. Listen, it's real chilly out, and I'm eager to chat, but I think it might be better if we could... discuss things inside, maybe?" He said, ending off with an intimidating grin. Jane could tell from a mile away that his intentions weren't well. "Inside, please." He pointed his pistol at Mike, then Jane, then ushered the both of them inside.
Jane reluctantly followed behind Mike into the vehicle. Jane's attention was quickly drawn to the fact that their trio had been reduced to a duo. "Where the hell did Bonnie go?", she thought, not risking speaking aloud in case her captor would overhear. She was right behind Mike until the door opened, she recalled.
Her worry for Bonnie was shaken after a forceful shove to her back, forcing her into the mobile home along with her ally. Taking one last look outside, the golden rays of sunshine slowly diminished, instead being overtaken by the dim, tired lighting of their prison. They were at the whim of this man, this stranger she'd never met before.
Had Bonnie abandoned them? Would they make it out of here alive? Jane could only exchange worried glances with Mike as the duo's hands were tied and mouths gagged, their bodies sat down on a less than comfortable couch as they contemplated their fate.
(Author's Notes. This was uploaded January 9th, 2015, so this makes sense in the future.)
Hi! First things first: I am extremely sorry about the lack of updates. I've been wanting to work on this for a long while, and it took me over a month, but I finally delivered! A mix of laziness and procrastination, and life stress is not a good one for your writing hobbies, by the way.
Updates will be more regular, around one a week! I'm going to try to keep that deadline this time (but I won't force it if I need more time for quality). If this is your first time reading this, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy what I have and what's to come! And if you're back after the month hiatus, thanks for coming back after such a ridiculous wait. I probably wouldn't have. But all the same, I hope you enjoy what I have and what's to come!
I think this chapter is pretty good, maybe the best of the four so far. It might not be perfect but I'm happy with it, at least.
I don't have much else to say off the top of my head, so I'm going to let this upload. I'll add anything else here if I feel the need to do so. Please, let me know what you thought! Anything good, anything bad; it's all appreciated. Feedback is what I love most! 3