The others came and join us on the other side of the bridge. Most of them smiling. Clem came up beside me and I slipped my arm around her shoulders. Tom looked down at her confused.
"Please tell me she's not your." He asked concerned, his voice ragged like always. I laughed out loud and the girl crinkled her nose at the comment.
"No, dumbass, she's far too old to me mine."
"Okay, good." He sounded gruff and uneducated, which he was. He looked at the group and nodded his approval.
"Good group you got here." He said before turning back to me.
"You have no idea," I said smiling as I looked over those scattered nearby.
"Look, Tommy about that man, on the bridge-" I began knowing this needed to be addressed.
"Don't worry about it. He was an asshole. He wouldn't give me any food no matter how much I begged. I was gonna steal some as soon as he went out on that bridge. I was close to getting this old chest open when I heard the gunshot."
"He said he was gonna help us," Luke added, Tommy looked over to him before going on.
"Yeah, well I can tell you straight up he was a dick. Won't be missed" He said simply. Still killing a man was no minor mistake, Nick had to know that. Even if he thought the man was going to hurt us, even if that man was a complete jerk. Did he deserve to die?
"If you guys like I've got a group of my own up in that old ski lodge on top of the hill. We can head there, you can all rest up. We've got a ton of food and supplies."
"Really?" Rebecca asked she looked worse than everyone else.
"You're people wouldn't mind?" Carlos asked
"Course not, their good people. Always welcoming new folks." He said and that lit a light of hope in every single face. "If we get going now we could be there before nightfall," Tommy said looking over his shoulder at the lodge that was a shadow in the distance.
"Can we just take a minute?" Rebecca pleaded holding tight onto her pregnant stomach.
"I ain't in no hurry," Tommy said and Rebecca smiled as she sat down on a nearby log.
"Thank you, we could all use a break," Carlos said to my brother who only smiled at the man's thanks. "Not a problem," He nodded. Carlos called Luke over and the two took a moment for a private conversation, giving me time to figure out what I could with my brother. As the others all broke away I stood there smiling at Tom, still in shock that he was standing here before me.
"What happened? Those scavengers told me they killed you." I said looking at him in disbelief. He sighed and his warm smile faded away.
"No, they didn't kill me. Most of them wanted to after what you did. That guy, the one who's eye you took out, shot me." I looked at him up and down trying to locate the injury. He laughed and rolled up his sleeve to reveal a thick line running down the width of his arm.
"Good thing you messed up his sight, otherwise he might have done a little more than graze me." He said rolling his sleeve back into place before I could snatch up his arm and further inspect it.
"How did you survive?" He looked around at the others nearby.
"Scarlett, are you sure you want to have this conversation now?" I looked him dead in the eyes. It had been so long ago, I didn't think I needed answers for a long time. Now that they were right here, in front of me I needed to know.
"Yes," I said without fault. Tom sighed and scratched his bread before he began to speak.
"Those guys were real assholes, but they agree to…" Tom trailed off as something caught his eyes in the distance. "Ah, shit!" He shouted looking at the bridge, I turned and saw tens of walkers stumbling our way. Quickly I searched the group for Clementine and she came out of the small hut with Alvin.
"We gotta go. The lodge ain't that far. We can make it if we run." Said Tommy as he got in front of the group before he turned and started running.
We started up the large ski hill just as night had taken over. Tommy ran around back to try and find the others from his group. The rest of us took a little longer making the climb. Tommy seemed a bit more rested. When we reached the lodge itself we were surprised to find it looked abandoned. Alvin went to look around front with Carlos to try and find Tommy or a way in. Luke and Clem made their way to the old remains of a ski lift, Nick nervously took watch with his rifle and I sat with Sarah and Rebecca.
"How you are guys doing?" I asked taking a seat on the bench beside the massively pregnant lady.
"I'm okay." Sarah pepped as she traced something on the ground with her finger.
"I'm beyond tired. What I wouldn't give for a good night rest and some food." Rebecca said leaning into the old bench, head resting on the back of the rotting wooden frame. I looked at Sarah who just drew in the dirt on the ground with her figure.
"How are you holding up sweetheart?" I asked Sarah, met my eyes through her red glasses.
"Good, I hope that guy comes back and lets us in soon. He's your brother right?"
"Yeah, he is,"
"He looks like you, sorta." She looked up at me studying my face as if looking for forgotten similarities. "You have the same hair and your noises are kinda the same." She said observantly.
"Yeah, people have always said that," I said tucking a piece of fair hair behind my ear.
"Who's older?"
"He is."
"Must be nice having a sibling, someone to play with when your bored." She said playing in the dirt again.
"Well, six years is a bit of an age gap. In all honesty, my brother and I never really got along."
"But you were so happy to see each other?"
"Just because we didn't get along doesn't mean we loved each other any less." She smiled and looked back to the ground.
"What the fuck is this shit?!" Someone shouted and without thinking I strange to my feet. There stood a man with a dark beard and a rifle. He was accompanied by a small woman and a larger man.
"I ain't gonna asked again, what the fuck is going on here?" The man shouted tightening his grip on his gun. Nick now stood right across from him rifle aimed at the man's head. Alvin and Carlos raced around to where we all stood and joined in the senseless yelling. Luke came racing up to the group and tried to calm the commotion. Where the hell was Tommy? These must have been his people, but he wasn't with them. Had something happened to him?
"Listen, everyone, just stay calm." Luke tried to usher, but no one listened.
"Who are you?! Are you trying to rob us?" Said the new woman.
"Excuse me, honey, but do I look like a fucking thief?" Damnit, Tommy. Where are you?
"Everyone calm down." Said the larger man with his hands raised in the air. He seemed less interested in violence than the other two.
"Hey man, you calm the fuck down." Alvin spat. This wasn't helping anything.
"Just tell us who you are." Requested the larger man.
"We ain't here to rob nobody. Put the gun down, man,"
"Fuck that." Said the man with the gun, he seemed dangerous.
"Please, just do what he says." Pleaded the woman. Clem then pushed through the group so that she was just behind Nick. The man looked at her, then back to Nick than to her again. This time, he dropped the gun. His face filled with shock.
"Kenny?!" She cried, everyone froze. So this was the famous Kenny. Sounded right, Christa had described him as hotheaded and quick to lose his temper. She also called him a backroad hick but she was grateful to him for saving her life. She said he was dead.
"Clementine..?" He asked just as shocked as her. Without another second to spear she leaped into his arms and hugged him.
"These people with you?" He asked after kneeling down to her level, she nodded and he stood back up.
"We can talk inside." Well, that changed awfully quick.
"Great I just started dinner." Said the large man with an inviting smile.
"What the fuck?!" A familiar voice shouted. I turned to see my brother round the corner onto the deck in a flash. He looked around at the group confused. I just looked at him annoyed. He met my eyes and jumped back in fright.
"What?"
"Now you decided to show up," I mumbled dropping my head into my hands.
"Tom, you know theses guys too?" Asked the large man who seemed happily confused.
"Sure do," Tom said throwing an arm around my shoulders as I remained slumped forward in disappointment. "This here is my babysitter." He said as I shoved his arm off my shoulders.
"Younger sister." I corrected. He laughed and looked at the others.
"Two reunions in one day, how wonderful. Now come on. It's gonna to storm soon. Please, come in." With that, we all followed Kenny and his group inside the lodge. Tommy and I walked near the back of the group with Carlos and Sarah. Tommy introduced us to the woman from earlier as Sarita. She was Kenny's girlfriend and I recalled a story about Kenny's wife who took her own life.
"Dad! look! A Christmas tree!" Sarah burst out as she entered the building.
"Not now, Sarah," Carlos said trying to calm his daughter.
"Isn't it great? We found it all in storage." Sarita said as she looked proudly at her work.
"It's amazing." Sarah beamed at the twinkling lights. I even cracked a smile as I looked over the lights and felt the warmth of the building. Even the smell of something cooking, I could actually say I was happy. Kenny walked down the steps and placed his large rifle on the floor. The others must have taken this as a show of faith as they all proceeded to do the same. I still, however, remained defenseless and had nothing to put on the bench. Sarita took the others to where they could sleep and I watched Clem follow Kenny away. Tommy smiled as he stood beside me.
"What do you think?" He asked as he watched me smile at the surroundings.
"Its great," I said turning to met his gaze with warm admiration. "Do you want to finish our conversation now?" I asked wanting my answers more than anything. He closed his eyes and let out a great sigh before meeting my now hard gaze.
"Yeah, let's go." He said leading me back outside where we would be alone. He leaned himself, agents, the wall and rested one elbow on a wooden rail. I walked up beside him and jumped up onto the rail wrapping my arm around it so I could sit without falling.
"Start from the begging, tell me everything," I said my tone no longer warm as it had been inside.
"You know what happened." He said looking away so he wouldn't have to meet my stare.
"Remind me."
"They stopped us on the road, drew guns on us and demanded we get out of the car. Uncle Bill had been driving and he and Dad got out first. They told us to wait in the car. I tried to get out but you stopped me. Dad started talking to them, he tried to get them to leave us alone. But they wanted our guns and our car. Dad wasn't giving it up, stubborn old bastard." He said looking down at the ground. I already knew this and I wanted to tell him to skip ahead but I needed to face what happened that day. I hadn't yet.
"Anyway, Dad said something. Must have pissed them off because next thing I knew they blew his brains all over the hood of the car. We both jumped out of the car and ran around. One of them hit you over the head before you could do anything and another grabbed me, took my gun. Bill was shocked, I kept yelling at him to do something but he just wouldn't move. He kept staring at dad. The main guy, I think his name was Warren something like that, he told them to take you and I back to camp. Someone tried to grab Bill but he lost it. Whipped out his knife and tried slashing at people, they didn't hesitate to kill him. Then they took you away, I don't know where to. Then they took me to that leader guy. I was a mess sobbing and swearing all at once. They put a gun to my head and asked me to make a decision. I either agreed to work for them or they killed me and my sister. As you can see, I agreed. He said I could see you the next day if I proved myself."
"What did that make you do?"
"To start, they had me burn our Dad and Uncle Bill. Then they had me scrubbed his brains off the car windows." I paused looked away. I remembered the blood and how afoul it had been. I was so mad I jumped out of the car with my knife in hand ready to stab that monster, then everything had gone black.
"Then they made me steal from this other group little ways down the road. They made me shoot this poor woman who just wanted to save her kids, then they shot the kids. The next day when they said I could see you I was told you got away. What happened after they took you?" I took a minute to gather myself and think back that far, it had been a long time. That was maybe seven months into this whole mess. A year and a bit ago. I was about to answer when the doors open, Kenny, Luke, and Nick walked out and around the side of the building. Once I was sure they were out of earshot I spoke.
"I woke up in some room, it was completely empty. The door was locked. After some time I gather my strength and kicked it open, rather rammed it open. There was no one outside the door and I found myself in a kitchen. I-"
"Wait you were in a house?"
"Yeah,"
"The only one who had a house was Warren, everyone else slept in tents. You must have been in his house. But why would he..." He slowly thought over what he had said and looked to the ground as all color drained from his face.
"I was in the kitchen" I continued drawing my brother's attention back to me. "I searched everywhere and only found an old fork."
"That's what you used to take that guy's eye out," Tommy said knowing the outcomes better than I did.
"Yeah, I heard someone come in. I hid and when he came around the corner I plunged the fork into his eyes. I didn't mean to get him right in the eyes, he was shorter than I thought he was going to be. After that, I raced outside the house and toward the woods close by. Someone tackled me to the ground. Screaming and yelling at me. I kicked and clawed at him, he got hold of me and dragged me to my feet one arm around my neck. I bit his arm until he let out. I think I took a chunk of his skin out. I grabbing his knife and plunging it into his throat. There was so much blood. I was covered in it. After that I took back the knife and ran into the woods, some people were shooting at me but I got away."
"Looks like we've both had some pretty shitty luck, huh?" I nodded giving a weak laugh.
"I guess so." It was silent as Tommy nervously looked around, he didn't know what to say, neither did I. It had been so long I wasn't even sure who he was anymore, but as I looked at him I still saw my older brother, as if a day hadn't passed.
"We better go in, dinner should be done soon."
AN: Sorry I know this chapter was kinda slow but you did find some stuff out. The next chapter should be a little quicker, rather it should have more excitement. I know I've been saying it a lot but I'd love some more reviews I can't even tell you how happy I am to hear people actually like this. If you have more ideas please comment them or message me, however, that works.
