Chapter 9: Anger Management
Anne's POV
We had been walking for a week, but I was worried about Tess. She'd been throwing every morning for the past week, and I was started to wonder if she would make it.
"Sweetie?" I asked, and Chris looked at me.
"What is it, Annie?" He asked me.
"Is Tess okay?" I asked.
He sighed and slowed his pace and I matched his movements. We were behind the group when he looked at me.
"What I'm about to tell you can't go back to anyone but us, Nick, Emmy, and Tess. Promise?" He asked me. "I promise." I replied.
He then leaned his mouth towards my ear. "Tess is pregnant." He whispered and I was shocked. "How far along is she?" I asked. "About six or seven months." He replied.
Chris's POV
I looked at Anne to see she was shocked to hear about Tess.
"That's why Nick and Tess wanted to talk to you." She said and I nodded my head. I then looked over to see a bridge and Clementine scouting with her binoculars.
"See anything?" Luke asked.
"She better see something." Alvin groaned. "We've been walking for a goddamn week."
"There's a lift or something." Clem said.
"Chair lift? Must be that ski lodge." Luke said before looking back down at the map.
"I've never been skiing before." Clem thought aloud.
"Bec and I went once." Alvin said.
"It wasn't pretty." Bec said, chuckling.
"Coleen took me and Emmy once." I said.
"I remember you fell on your ass." Emily said.
"At least I didn't fall face first." I retorted. I then looked to see Anne talking with Tess. Emily noticed this and rose an eyebrow. "You told her, didn't you?" She asked me and I nodded my head, expecting a slap in the face. It never came. She just nodded her head.
"There's a building on the mountain." I heard Clem say, gaining everyone's attention.
"What's it look like?" I asked.
"It's big." She replied.
"Sounds like a good place to spend the night." Anne said.
"There's a little house by the bridge." Clem said.
"How big is it?" Tess asked.
"Pretty small." Clem replied before putting her binoculars away and climbing down from the rock.
"We have to cross that bridge. Let's go." Carlos said crossing his arms.
"Hold on now. We can't just go sprinting across that thing, okay?" Luke pointed out as I walked over to them.
"Luke's right, Carlos. If we get spotted, we're gonna be trapped." I said.
"Going around that lake will take too long." Carlos said.
"Right, but we've got no idea what's out there. I'm gonna sneak across to make sure it's clear before we bring the whole group over." Luke said.
"Anne and I can use our Sais to cover you." I said as Anne came to my side.
"You really think splitting up the group is a good idea?" Carlos asked.
"We never said it was a GOOD idea, but it's a helluva lot better than risking everyone's ass at once." I replied.
"What's the plan, then?" Anne asked.
"You and Chris cover us from here while Clem and I scoot across low and slow and make sure nobody's waiting for us on the other side." Luke replied.
I turned and knelt to Clem's level. "Once our Sais are thrown, could you hold onto them for us?" I asked her.
"Yeah." She replied.
"The rest of us will have a hard time covering you from back here." Alvin stated.
"Well, we'll just turn around if it gets hairy." Luke said.
"Clementine should stay here. She's-"
Luke cut him off. "She's what?"
"She's just a little girl, Luke." Carlos replied.
"Carlos, when Anne and I found her, she was fighting off a dog. Anne told me that while I was comatose, she kept a lurker from biting her. This 'little girl' is tough as nails." I said.
"I can do it." Clem said confidently.
"It's gonna be fine. We'll signal you guys in ten minutes. Just watch for a light at the far side. Chris and Anne, do you guys need scopes?" Luke asked us and I shook my head.
"I have two in my bag." I replied.
"I can go too." Nick offered, but Luke refused.
"You can stay with the group." Luke said, looking to me for support.
"He's right, Nick. With you in your condition, that's way too risky. Besides, you need to be there for Tess." I said.
"I'm fine, guys." Nick insisted.
Carlos crossed his arms. "I don't like this." He said.
"You don't like anything, Carlos." I said.
"Yeah, when's the last time you liked anything?" Luke asked.
"I'll cover you." Nick said.
"No, Nick. You're not in good condition to do that." I said.
"I can help them, Chris."
"NO!" I shouted.
"You're staying back here with the group." I added.
"But…" Nick started.
"End of discussion." I said. Nick reluctantly conceded and went to sit with Tess.
Luke sighed. "Come on, Clem." He said as they walked to the bridge while Anne and I walked to the rock where Clem was scouting. We drew our Sais and stood ready to throw them just in case.
"Baby, don't you think you were a little hard on Nick?" She asked me as I sighed and pulled out the scopes and handed one to her.
"Tess needs him. And with what happened to his mom and Pete…" I replied, trailing off.
A few minutes later, I saw lurkers attacking Luke and Clem. Two were in front of Clem, so I threw my Sai, and Anne matched my movements. After the Sais made impact, Clem looked back to us and smirked. She then pulled the Sais out of the lurkers' heads and ran to help Luke.
A few minutes after that, I looked and saw a strange person in front of Clem and Luke. Nick saw the figure and ran to help them.
"NICK!" I called, but he was too far ahead already.
"Grrr! I'm gonna kill him!" Tess said.
"Not if Luke beats you to it." I said. When we made our way to the bridge, I saw Nick pointing his rifle at someone, but couldn't tell who. Suddenly, a gunshot rang out and we ran to see what happened.
Once we were on the bridge, I saw someone go over the edge. We managed to catch up to Nick, Luke, and Clem.
"Did I get him? Where is he?!" I heard Nick ask.
"I told you not to shoot!" Luke exclaimed. "Why didn't you wait for our signal?"
"We thought you were in trouble! You were wavin' your arms, so I thought you meant shoot!"
"He was going to help us…" Clem explained. Anne and I looked at each other confused.
"How do you know that?!" Nick asked scowling.
Luke shook his head. "Dammit, Nick! I told you not to shoot!" He snapped.
"How was I supposed to hear you? You gave me a clear shot!" Nick retorted.
"SHUT UP!" I shouted, surprising everyone. "That shot rang out for miles. Let's just get the fuck off of this bridge and explain everything on the other side." I ordered, taking point. As Anne and I passed Clem, she gave us back our Sais.
Once we were off the bridge, I turned to face Luke, Clem, and Nick.
"Someone better start talking or I'll get answers my way." I harshly said.
"Clem and I ran into someone, and Nick here thought he was gonna shoot us, so he shot him." Luke explained. Everyone went wide eyed.
"WHAT?!" Tess exclaimed.
"Who was that back there?" Bec asked as she leaned over, holding her back. Emily walked over to her to help her.
"Looked like he had a gun on you." Alvin said, before I shot him a glare, telling him to shut up.
"That asshole drew on me! He was about to shoot!" Nick said.
"Oh, was he?" Luke asked.
"I'm telling you, he drew first!" Nick defended, but I was already getting furious. Anne came to try and calm me down.
"Baby, don't touch me right now. I don't wanna hurt you." I said to her.
"That's not what it looked like to me!" Tess said.
"Everybody calm down!" Clem said.
"What did you see, Clem? Was that guy gonna shoot?" Alvin asked.
"Fuck you, Luke! You've been on my case the whole week!" Nick snapped. "And why do you think that is?" Luke calmly asked.
"He wasn't gonna do anything…" Clem said.
"I know what I saw!" Nick insisted while scowling. I walked up to him and punched him in the face so hard, he went to the ground.
"WHAT THE FUCK, MAN?!" He asked me. "JUST BECAUSE IT LOOKED LIKE HE WAS GONNA SHOOT DOESN'T GIVE YOU A GODDAMN REASON TO PUT A FUCKING BULLET IN HIS NECK, YOU DUMBASS! YOU COULDA HIT CLEM OR LUKE, GODDAMMIT!" I roared. "Yeah, but I didn't!" Nick snapped and at this point, I was beyond furious.
Tess came and stood between us. "ALRIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH!" She screamed. I then glared at Nick, and spat in his face before I walked off into the woods with my machete in my hand. Tess, Anne, and Emily knew what I was gonna do, but they didn't follow me.
Anne's POV
Clem was gonna go talk to Chris when I put hand on her shoulder to stop her. "Let him go, Clem. He just needs to let out a little steam." I told her before I turned to see Luke and Nick at it again.
"Look, I know Pete was close to you, but-" Luke started before Nick stopped him. "Don't fucking talk about him!" He snapped when I drew my Sai and my knife and stood in between them before a fight could break out.
"Do you think he was with Carver?" Carlos asked.
"I don't know… I- No. I don't think so. But he fell over." Luke replied. "He fell off the damn bridge?!" Alvin asked.
"We need to keep moving." Carlos ordered. "I can't. I need a minute…" Bec said as she sat down. "And I refuse to leave Chris." I said, looking to his sisters for support.
"Fine." Carlos reluctantly agreed. "Luke, can I talk to you for a minute?" Carlos asked. He and Luke then walked to a nearby tree. Nick scowled as he stormed over to a bench by the station. Chris came back, but his clothes and his machete were covered in lurker blood. I ran to him.
"Jesus Christ! What happened to you?" I asked as Tess and Emily came running to him too. He shrugged.
"Eh, the usual. Lurkers tried to bite me, I stabbed them. End of story." He replied smugly before looking at Nick. "I'm gonna go apologize to Nick." He said.
"We'll come with you." I said, and he nodded his head. Alvin called Clem over to him and she walked to him while the four of us walked over to Nick.
He looked at Chris and went wide eyed.
"Dude, what happened to you?" He asked.
"Eh, same old sob story. Lurkers tried to bite me, I cut out their jaws, then stabbed them in the heads. End of story." Chris replied. "But that's not why I came over here. I came over here to apologize for punching you square in the mouth." Chris said.
"Bygones, man." Nick said and I smiled. "We good? No plans to murder anyone in their sleep now?" I asked. "That's a boring way to do it." Chris said. "I wasn't planning on it either." Nick said.
After that, we walked away to Alvin and Bec.
"You guys got any food? Bec's dying here." He said. "Alvin, I told you, I'm fine." Bec insisted. All four of us shook our heads. "We can check out the station. That guy said he had food there." Clem said.
"Let's go take a look, then." Chris said. "Jeez, man. Is all that lurker blood?" Alvin asked him.
"What do you think?" Chris retorted. All five of us then walked back to the station to look around.
That's chapter nine. I know it's a cliffy and I'm sorry. Next chapter will pick up right after Nick walks over to Luke and Carlos to talk to them. Review and I'll post more chapters.
