Chapter 7: 100 Days In
3 Months Later-Present Day
This mess started three months ago. At least, that's what the date says. But in reality, it feels like years. Carley and I can barely sleep at night, and judging by the demeanor of the group, I doubt anyone else can either. Lily and Larry are always on edge. Lily because she's taken on many of the responsibilities as leader of the group and Larry because he's a massive dick. But that's beside the point. Kenny finds himself butting heads with Lily in what is as close to a power struggle as I can think of. Kenny is arguing that we should leave and head South towards Florida, but Lily says that the motor inn still has some time left in it, so we should hold out as long as we can. I honestly don't know who is right and who is wrong, if either of them are right at all. Duck is still goofy and Katjaa tries to remain in pretty good spirits. Lee tries to stay positive about everything, but I can tell the main thing he cares about is his little girl, Clementine, who I soon found out wasn't actually his daughter. Just a kid he ran into when this started who was alone. If you saw him with Clementine, you'd never think he'd murdered a senator in cold blood.
During a supply run, the group came across a guy named Mark, who Lily knew from the Air Force. Mark had been holding out in the Air Force base and was able to stockpile quite a bit of food, which he was more than willing to share by the time he joined our group. That kept us fed for the last two and a half months, but much like our luck, the food stock was running dry. We maybe have a week's worth left. Mark's a pretty nice guy. He knows a lot about survival and is very down to Earth about it, even helping teach the kids how to tie knots and other important tips like that. While it doesn't resonate all that well with the kids, he still puts in the effort for them, so credit is given where due.
As do many things in life, we soon had a daily routine going. Kenny, Lee, and Mark usually would go on supply runs, Carley and Lilly would switch off on doing watches, and Larry would focus on sealing the perimeter. Katjaa takes care of the kids. I'd usually switch between going on supply runs and doing watches. While tensions continue to rose, at least this routine would keep us organized, even if we were about to lose our minds.
The sun made its way through the cracks in between the shades and hits my eyes, much like the day we first joined this group. I feel Carley still laying next to me, she continues lightly snoring as I slowly lean up and get out of the bed for the day. I walk into the bathroom praying for even a little water to come through the pipes, just enough for a quick shower. But as expected, nothing. I sigh as I throw on a pair of jeans and a light jacket and step outside into the brisk late-October morning. Lily's up at her post on top of the RV, doing watch while Lee, Mark, and Kenny were out hunting. Duck and Clementine are drawing with chalk on the concrete. Larry is working on building a fence to fortify the area, I guess we know whose side he's on.
I feel a set of arms hug me from behind. My fiancee was awake.
"Morning baby" I turn my head around and smile at her.
"Morning handsome" She whispers in my ear and lightly kisses my cheek.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Probably about as good a sleep you can get in about 3 hours."
"I hear that. I could barely sleep either. I might lose it if I don't get a good night's sleep soon." I hear a sharp whistle coming from Lily, who's aiming a rifle out towards the woods. Everything is dead silent, except for the soft breeze on the trees.
"Get the gates open! We got wounded!" Lee cries out from the treeline. Mark's carrying a man who happens to be missing the bottom half of his left leg and bleeding profusely from the wound. A teenage boy donning a blue letterman jacket is with them too. Lee shoves the gate open and commotion ensues. Lily interrogates Lee about who this person is, Katjaa trying to fix the man, Larry berating Lee, everyone yelling about something. But, naturally, Lily's voice stood above the rest.
"What the hell, Lee? You can't just bring new people in here. What are you thinking?"
"Hey calm down for a fuckin' minute" Kenny fired at Lily.
"Hey watch your damn mouth" Larry said.
"No. I want to find out why you though bringing more mouths to feed was a good idea." Lily's face is bright red now. We're already low as is, so she has a point. But still, the man would've probably bled out. Hell, who knows if he'll even make it.
"He would've died out there!" Lee took the words right out of my mind.
"So what?" Larry said coldly.
"We are not in charge of every struggling survivor we come across. WE have to focus on OUR group. Right here, right now." Lily points at the ground to make her point, and Larry smiles. He must be proud. The apple must not fall far from the tree, after all.
"Well hold on, we haven't even talked to these people. Maybe they can be helpful." I smile towards my fiancee, who once again proves she's the moral compass of the group.
"Well I don't suppose you guys are carrying groceries, are you?" She coldly stares at the teenage boy, who looks like he's about to pass out or throw up.
"N-n-no" He weakly lets out as Lily keeps glaring.
"Welcome to the family, kid." Mark mutters to the kid as he shakes his head and walks away. Clementine tugs on the boy's sleeve and drags him away. Maybe the situation is starting to dissolve. Kenny walks over to Lilly and of course, tempers continue to rise.
"You know, you like to think you're the leader of this group. But we can make our own god damn decisions. This isn't your little personal dictatorship." Kenny starts to get up in her face. And Larry looked ready to smack him.
"Kenny stop being dramatic!" Carley cries out. "Everything turns into a power struggle between you two. I'm not gonna be a part of that." She walks away from the argument throwing her hands into the air in frustration. I sigh and turn towards her, about to go after her, but second thoughts tell me otherwise, so I stay back to see how this argument goes.
"Hey, I didn't ask to lead this group. Everyone was happy to have me being the one distributing the food when there was enough to go around. But now that it's running out, suddenly I'm a goddamn Nazi." she shot back at Kenny.
"Hey, does it really matter who's in charge? I mean like, come on. We gotta help these people out. We can't be turning on each other." I try to dissolve the situation myself, but both Lilly and Kenny give me bad looks.
"Shut the fuck up, Ian." Lilly says bluntly.
"Yeah you fucking pansy. What'll it take for you to realize my girl's right? I don't see any of you assholes stepping up to make the hard decisions. My girl's got more balls than the rest of you combined!" I grit my teeth and exhale sharply at his remark but try to get the image of his daughter with a cock and a pair of balls out of my head.
"Dad…" Lilly says, clearly not comfortable about that last remark either, "Why don't you go help Mark build the fence?" He gives Lee a dirty look before joining Mark on the other side of the parking lot.
"Do you think this is easy for me? Everyone's starting to hate me because I'm the one that rations my food. But nobody else wants to." she hisses at us while walking over to the small backpack with rations and pulls out a small amount of food. She hands this food to Lee. "I'm not dealing with this bullshit today. You decide who eats." I frown and go sit down next to Carley, who's watching the kids draw.
"You hear all that?" I ask her.
"Yep"
"This isn't gonna last."
"I know."
"So what do we do?"
"I'm not sure. To be honest, I'm not sure if this'll ever smoothen out. And I feel like someone's gonna end up dead over it. I just don't want it to be you or me." I smile knowing my fiancee doesn't want me dead.
"Well I don't exactly like the idea of just leaving, either. I mean, we don't know what's out there. I've been hearing what Kenny's been saying. If he gets that RV working we might as well leave with him. In all honesty, I think I trust him at this point more than Lilly."
"Yeah I agree. Lilly has way too short of a fuse to have this much power. But do you know who I think should be making the decisions? Lee. He's kept a level head the most out of all of us. I don't she he isn't calling the shots right now."
"That's interesting. Maybe one of us should run that idea by him." My girlfriend smiles at my agreement.
"I'll ask him" she says as we see Lee hand half an apple to Clementine, who seems to be the happiest one here. Carley is right. Lee should be calling the shots. Even despite his past, he's clearly one of the more ethical members of the group. We need people like him in charge.
"Hey." Lee approaches us. "Are you two hungry?"
"Well, I mean, who isn't" I try to smile at what I just said. "But I think there's people who need it more than me right now. So I'm all right." I'm not really all right. I haven't eaten in 2 days. It's a miracle I haven't passed out yet.
"Yeah me neither Lee." My fiancee's stomach rumbles in protest, getting a giggle out of her.
"Well here. You guys need to eat." Lee handed Carley a package of crackers. He walks away but pulls out a stick of beef jerky and gives it to Duck.
"Well that was nice of him" she slowly opens the package.
"Yeah it was. Eat up. You need it."
"What about you? You haven't eaten in days."
"Me? I'll live. I gotta keep the future Mrs. Sullivan fed." She blushes and giggles a bit more.
"Well it's not fair for my future husband to have to go without food when I have some." She takes out a cracker and hands it to me.
"And this is why you're the woman I'm gonna marry when this shit settles down." I grin and take the cracker, eating it in two bites. Getting something in my system helps, but it won't sustain me very long. Carley pulls me into a kiss and my lips meet hers once again.
"We're gonna be all right, you know that?" I break away from this kiss for a moment to say that as she nods. My lips meet hers again but this time, the kiss breaks up from Katjaa's blood-curdling scream. Carley and I spring up to see the man Lee brought in reanimated, grabbing Katjaa while laying in the pickup truck. Lee grabs the walker's head in an attempt to free Katjaa from his grip, but upon successfully doing so, I see my former professor in a similar position. Larry, surprisingly nimble given his age and size, runs over with the axe and swings it at the walker, missing it by a mile and lodging it into the rear window.
Lee manages to stun the walker for just enough time to crawl out of the truck before landing hard on the concrete. The walker follows him and suddenly it's back on top of him. Lee, once again seemingly losing to the walker, is saved by another gunshot to the walker's head. Once again, Carley saved his life. I offer him my hand.
"You good?"
"Yeah." he looks at Carley. "Thanks"
"Why'd you bring him here in the first place, asshole?" He roars over at the teen, who is visibly shaking from the situation. "You're gonna get us all killed!"
"Why didn't you tell us he was bitten?" Kenny asks in less harsh of a fashion but not exactly in a friendly way either.
"What? He wasn't bitten. Wait, do you guys not know?"
"Don't know what?" I ask with a confused look.
He looks at all of us for a few seconds before exhaling and looking down at the ground. "It's not the bite that does it…" he quietly says. "You come back, no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to all of us." No one says a word, stunned. So this is it. We can't win. We're all done.
"Son of a bitch" I whisper.
"So we're all infected? Everyone? God help us all…" Lee quietly asks him.
"I guess so. I don't know. All I know is I've seen people turn who were never bitten. When I first saw it happen, we were all hiding in the gym and we all thought we were safe. But one of the girls, Jenny Pitcher, couldn't take it anymore and she took a lot of pills. Someone went in the girls' room the next morning and… God…" he seems like he's about to break down in tears.
I look towards Carley to try to see her thoughts about this, but I soon find she is nowhere to be found. Her voice rings out from the other side of the motor inn, pistol drawn and aiming, behind cover.
"Back off!" I hear her yell. What the hell's going on?
