Yay, a new chap!
Sorry this is a bit of a slow chap… they'll be a more interesting one up next. ^_^
I DO NOT OWN THE WALKING DEAD WHATSOEVER
"El, El, wake up." Lee whispered as he nudged Eleanor's shoulder roughly.
Eleanor groaned in reply, and blinked twice, trying to figure out where she was.
"What time is it?" She asked, putting a hand over her head tiredly.
"It's eight thirty." He replied.
Eleanor grunted again, getting up from the couch she had fallen asleep on.
She looked around in a daze.
"Where is everybody?" She asked.
"They're all outside. We found something, I think you might like it." Lee explained.
Eleanor yawned. What she would give for a coffee…
"Alright, lets go." She said, heading towards the door when Lee caught her by the arm.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for making Lily leave… I know you saw something different in her. And hey, I know you gave her the gun. It's okay." Lee said.
Eleanor took a deep breath and looked at Lee in the eye's.
"It's good she's gone. Now, can we talk after breakfast?" She asked.
Lee smiled, and nodded his head.
Eleanor scavenged around the RV, and was able to find a couple pieces of beef jerky, some cheese and crackers, a few juice boxes, and three apples.
She sighed. The rest of the food must've been left at the motor inn.
She grabbed two pieces of jerky and two boxes, and left the RV.
Lee was waiting for her outside, smiling like a little boy.
"Like it?" He asked.
Eleanor looked forward to see a large train in the middle of the road.
"It's a train…" She said.
"It's salvageable."
Eleanor looked at Lee, her eye's widening.
"No way…"
"Yes way."
In two seconds Eleanor came from half asleep to fully excited, and she found herself wrapping her arms around Lee tightly.
Lee hugged her back, but was surprised when he heard short sobs coming from her.
They stayed like that for a few seconds, hugging each other tightly as Eleanor's tears escaped her clutches.
She pulled away, wiping the tears away awkwardly.
"Sorry." She managed.
"It's okay. It's been a rough go for everyone." Lee said sympathetically.
Eleanor glanced at Duck, cradled in Katjaa's arms through the trees.
"I have a feeling it's not gonna get better from here, Lee…" She explained.
"I know. But we can get through this." He said.
"I will. I can… I can do it." Eleanor said, and Lee looked down at the jerky in her hands.
"Is that for me?" he asked teasingly.
"Uh, well… I was gonna give it to Clementine…" Eleanor said awkwardly, worried Lee would be mad. But he only smiled.
"It's fine. Lets go give it to her." He said, walking towards the group, but was stopped by Eleanor.
"You have to eat." She said sternly.
Lee sighed, but smiled at the blue haired girl in front of him.
"Alright. I'll grab something quickly. Go ahead, I'll be right there." Lee said.
Eleanor nodded, and walked towards the group.
The second she walked towards them she wished she was still sleeping in the RV.
The vibe was thick with sorrow and dreaded anticipation.
It was as if the motor inn was just a dream…
Eleanor shook her head quickly, and turned to Clementine, who was sitting alone on a log, looking sadly over at Duck.
Eleanor sat down next to her, plastering a fake smile.
"Hey, Clem. How did you sleep?" she asked.
"Okay…" Clementine mumbled.
Trying to smile, Eleanor looked down at her hands that were clutching the jerky and the juice box.
"Here." She said, handing her the food. "You need to have breakfast."
Clementine looked at the food, but only grabbed the juice box.
Eleanor sighed, knowing she couldn't get Clementine to eat. She tucked the jerky in her pocket, and took a large bight out of her own.
Lee walked over to her, and held a hand out.
"Come on, I'm going to check the train. Come with me." He said.
Eleanor nodded her head, and looked over at Katjaa, Duck lying limp in her hands.
"I-I'll be right there." She said, taking Lee's hand and letting him pull her up.
"Alright. Ben and I'll be waiting." He said, and walked towards the train.
Eleanor knelt down in front of Katjaa.
"Is Duck hungry?" She asked.
"No, more thirsty." Katjaa replied. She sounded completely numb.
"Here." Eleanor handed her the juice box, and Katjaa took it slowly.
Her movements were slowed, and her voice was slurring. She wasn't taking this well at all. She was staying strong only for her son.
She was definitely admirable.
"Just ask if you need anything, alright?" Eleanor asked.
"How about you? I know you liked Lily. How are you doing with her leaving?"
"I haven't had time to think about it."
"You guys made the right decision. Who knows what she'd do if she was still here."
"Thanks, Katjaa." Eleanor said, and stood up.
She turned to Clementine who was now looking at the ground sadly.
If Eleanor could barely stand this how the hell could an eight year old?
As she walked over to Lee and Ben she made a pledge to herself. If Katjaa can still be strong when her son is dying in her arms, she can, too.
"Alright, what do we have?" Eleanor asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"We were just about to check the drivers car. We could use an extra hand." Lee explained.
"Shall do. Lets go." Eleanor replied, and the three of them climbed the car, and slowly made their way towards the door.
They all stopped as they saw the back of a head of what looked like a walker… But neither of them could be sure.
"Is he…" Ben began, when Lee turned to him and put a finger over his mouth.
He pulled a monkey wrench from his belt, and opened the door as he raised the tool over the walkers head.
As soon as the door was opened, a wave of stench hit then, unlike any walker they had ever smelt before.
Lee seemed to push past it, hitting the man in the head roughly with his monkey wrench.
The walker fell to the ground, letting the group all take a better look at his face.
Half of his head was caved in, his whole face caked with crusted over with blood… He must've been here for quite a while.
Eleanor looked up to the window he was next to. The window was smashed and covered in blood…
"I don't think he came back." Ben said, stopping the silence.
"I agree…" Eleanor said.
Lee looked down, and saw a light blinking on the controls.
"Why is that light blinking?" He asked.
"Push it!" Ben exclaimed.
"Push It?" Lee asked in shock.
"Why not?
"Are you fucking serious?"
"Here, look." Ben said, and pressed the button without hesitation.
A screeching sound came from the end of the train.
"It's just the brakes." Ben said.
"Right, good job, Ben." Eleanor said, smiling.
"This fucker works?" Kenny asked, emerging from behind them, obviously hearing the sound of the breaks.
"Seems like it." Lee said as Kenny pushed past Eleanor and sat down at the drivers seat in excitement.
"I'll be damned. How the hell do we get this thing moving?" He asked.
"I don't know. Ask mister Amtrak over here." Lee said, motioning to Ben, who was dragging the dead body out of the car.
"No idea." He said.
"Here, let me help you." Eleanor said, lifting the dead body's legs. She cringed as she heard the sound of the flesh ripping from the bones at the movement.
The two of them threw the body to the other side of the train, watching as the limbs tore apart at the impact of the ground.
Eleanor shivered, and walked back into the car.
"Eleanor and I are going to go search around a little more. We'll let you know if we find anything." Lee said.
"Alright." Kenny said, trying to make sense of the controls.
Lee and Eleanor walked off of the drivers car, and walked towards the last one that was still intact.
"El… would you have left Lily on the street like that?" Lee asked.
Eleanor turned to him, surprised by the question.
"Why do you ask, Lee?" She asked.
"I'm just thinking… Maybe it wasn't the right thing to do…"
Eleanor shushed him before he could go on, making him look at her in surprise.
"I know you liked Doug, hell, everyone did, he was an amazing guy. It wasn't right what Lily did, but it doesn't mean we should look back at our decisions and wonder if we did the right thing. She chose not to listen to us. She new the price of her actions, yet she did it anyway.
I'm not saying she deserved it, but I'm not saying she didn't deserve it. What she deserved was a new start. And knowing her, she's getting one." Eleanor explained.
Lee smiled at Eleanor.
"Thanks." He said.
"No problem. Now, lets open this up." She said, and Lee pulled open the door.
Inside were a bunch of boxes, a chair, a mattress, and a lot of other rubbish all around it.
"Looks like somebody was living in here." Lee said, hopping up into the car.
"Or maybe they never left." Eleanor said.
Lee and Eleanor shared a worried glance, then looked back down at the scene in front of them.
Eleanor jumped inside and assessed the situation further.
"Look, there's a map of the train routes. We should bring it to Kenny." Lee said, bending down and picking up a clipboard with a piece of paper on it.
"Think Duck is still thirsty?" Eleanor asked.
"Maybe… better to be safe then sorry." Lee looking at the mattress again.
"Think whoever lived here is gone?" He asked.
"I don't think so. It looks recently used. Be on the look-out for anybody." Eleanor said. Lee nodded his head and jumped out of the car with Eleanor.
"I'll be back in a bit." She said, walking over to Katjaa.
The sight didn't get any better. In fact, it seemed to have gotten worse now that Kenny was gone. Eleanor was surprised to see Ben sitting next to Katjaa on the ground, looking pretty disappointed.
"What happened, Ben?" She asked.
"Kenny told me to sit back here." He grumbled.
Eleanor sighed, and handed the water bottle to Katjaa.
"Here, if Duck is still thirsty." She said.
"Thank you, El… He's allergic to bees." She said suddenly.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah… it's all I can keep thinking about, like somehow that matters."
"I don't think it does."
"I know. Well, I don't. But I think you're right." Katjaa said, and looked down at Duck.
"He looks tired." Eleanor mentioned.
"Yeah…"
"Probably fighting off whatever's inside him."
"I hope so. Tell us when you get the train working."
"Oh, you'll know."
And with that, Eleanor walked back to the train to meet with Lee.
"Hey, El, I think I found the instructions to turn on the engine, I just need a pencil." Lee said once she entered the car.
"Oh, like Clementine's leaf rubbing? Sorry, I didn't see anything. Might wonna poke around in the RV, just in case." Eleanor said. Lee nodded, and walked away, leaving Kenny and Eleanor alone.
"So, Ken…"
"Whatever you're gonna say, I don't wonna hear it." He snarled before she could say anything else.
'Well… his son is dying… we all handle this shit in different ways.'
Eleanor looked to the ground, and walked passed Kenny to see a notepad that read 'Engine Start'.
"That's why he needed the pencil, huh?" She asked out loud.
"You'd better hope there's one in the RV." Kenny snarled.
"I'm sure there will be."
Almost right on que, Lee walked in, holding a red pencil in his hand.
"Oh thank God." Eleanor said, and handed Lee the notepad.
After a minute of Lee rubbing the pencil against the paper, he had all the instructions clear.
"Perfect." He said, looking down at it.
"You can read it now?" Kenny asked.
"Yeah. Should be able to just follow the steps and get the engine running." Lee explained.
"Well, lets get to it." Eleanor said.
Between the two of them they had the engine going in a matter of seconds, looking over at the notepad, switching nobs, pulling levers and pressing buttons. The last two nobs were outside, and as the engine rumbled to a start, Eleanor and Lee smiled widely at each other.
"Holy shit, we're golden!" Kenny exclaimed as he walked out of the car of the train, and looked around triumphantly.
"What about Duck?" Lee asked.
"What about him?" Kenny replied, trying to be unfazed.
"Look, Kenny… it's something we have to deal with." Eleanor explained, trying to keep the situation calm.
"Did you not hear Kat? We don't know shit!" Kenny said, and looked out at the woods. "Lets fucking enjoy this. C'mon, lets see if she'll move." Kenny said, and walked back into the driver's car.
"Is it just me, or is he being really hypocritical?" Eleanor asked, making Lee turn his head to her.
"What?"
"Come on, I know you're thinking the same thing I am."
"It's different this time. This time it's his son."
"That doesn't mean Duck is different."
There was a pause, and Eleanor shook her head.
"Sorry. I'm just… We've never had a bite victim before, and the first one just has to be with a kid. What are we going to do?"
"We move on. We keep going, like we always do. We've gotta support Kenny and Katjaa through this. It'll all be alright." Lee explained.
Eleanor sighed. "I hope you're right."
Lee patted Eleanor's shoulder, and walked into the drivers car with Kenny.
"Go ahead." She heard Kenny said, and Lee pulled a lever, making the train lunged forward, but was stopped by something.
"Damnit!" Kenny yelled.
"We're still attached back here." Eleanor called.
"Can you two find were we're stuck, and get us… unstuck?" Kenny asked.
"Sure." Lee said, and walked to the end of the train, went through the car at the end, and hopped on the other side to see what they were attached to.
"Right, we can't bring all of that rubble with us, we need to detach here. Have you got that monkey wrench you had before?" Eleanor asked.
"Yup. I'll pry apart the hatch." Lee said, and lifted the chunk of metal that was attaching the train to the wreckage.
"Great. Now we ride all the way to the ocean. You really think it's a good idea to find a boat?" Eleanor asked as they jumped back into the car to get to the other side of the train.
"Well, I guess we'll see once we get there." Lee said.
Just at that moment, a voice came from behind them, making the both of them jump.
"You touch any of my stuff?"
Eleanor and Lee turned to see an older looking man dressed in ragged clothes walking slowly towards them.
'So that's who lives here…'
"Just some water and the map of the train routes." Lee said.
"Oh, that's fine, you can have those."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I got 'em all up in here. And I think that little boy could use that water more than I could." He turned to his mattress. "I guess it's no worse for wear. The names Chuck. Charles, if you're fancy."
"Lee."
"Eleanor."
"I've never seen somebody with blue hair like that. How do you find the hair dye now?" Chuck asked.
"I don't. It's a rare condition I had since I was born. So, basically, it's natural." Eleanor explained.
"Strange… I've never seen anything like that before."
"I guess I'm one of a kind."
"I guess you are. I saw you two walking through here, and thought of scaring the pants off of yah. But I couldn't force myself to do it." He explained.
"You're still kinda freaking me out." Lee said awkwardly, making Chuck chortle.
"Train folk'll do that to you. I've already met your crew outside. They all warmed to me right quick in direct sunlight." Chuck said, turning around and hoping out of the car, and towards the group again.
"Weird. I guess I never hang around trains very much." Lee said.
"I'm sure he's fine." Eleanor said, and the two of them followed behind him.
Once they were at the group Clementine jumped up at the sight of them. Eleanor couldn't help but notice the guitar next to Chuck, making her smile.
'I haven't seen one of those since Peter…' Eleanor quickly shrugged off that thought, and turned to Clementine.
"You two met Chuck!" She chimed.
"Yeah, we did." Lee said.
"It's so nice to meet somebody normal for a change." Katjaa said.
Eleanor snickered, and was elbowed in the side by Lee, making her shut up.
"He gave us candy! Ben too!" Clementine said before Eleanor could say anything.
Eleanor glanced over at Ben, who was munching on the candy he was given. He looked up at them nervously and stopped chewing for a second, and went back to chewing anyway.
Eleanor smiled and shook her head.
"Thanks, Chuck. Welcome to the group." Eleanor said.
"Have you met Kenny?" Lee asked.
"Sure did. Man shares my love of the road." Chuck replied, attempting what looked to be a smile…
"That's for sure…" Lee muttered.
Suddenly Duck started coughing, reminding everyone that he was still sick… still about to die.
Chuck got up and knelt down in front of the little boy being held tenderly by his mother.
"I'm awful sorry your son's not feeling good." He said sadly.
"I appreciate your concern." Katjaa said, her voice still sounding dull.
"Well, with a bit of TLC I'm sure he'll be fit as a fiddle in no time." He added just as Kenny walked towards the group. "I can offer ya'll whatever I got, although it's not much."
Kenny looked like he was about to say something, when Katjaa cut him off.
"Thank you. We'd like to do the same." She said, smiling warmly up at Chuck.
"Why don't we hold off on uh…" Kenny started.
"Stay with us. We'd like the company." Katjaa interjected yet again.
Kenny stared down at Katjaa for a long time, making Chuck naturally walk away from the silence. He sat down on the log, pulling up his guitar and started strumming it, trying to break the silence.
"Hey, uh, Chuck… you kinda caught us on a bad day." Lee explained.
"Well whatever it is, you still got two kids. And this one has a good spirit." Chuck said, motioning to Clementine who looked to the ground shyly.
Eleanor sat next to Chuck, and let the music take her to another time. A time where people weren't eating each other, and the world was the way it should be.
Kenny interrupted her smooth serenity.
"We don't have much left, so take whatever you need and go." He said firmly.
"We have some food left in the RV. I'll go get it quickly." Lee said, and walked towards the RV.
"Wonna ride?" Kenny asked Chuck.
"Well, it sounds like you're taking my home." Chuck answered.
"That a yes then?"
"Haven't found anything better for keeping the creepy crawlies out then that box car." He replied, and hopped in.
Lee walked over to the group, a backpack slung over his shoulder, just as Clementine walked towards Kenny and Eleanor.
She stopped for a minute, looking up at both of them before she spoke.
"Duck is sick." She said simply.
Before Eleanor could say anything, Kenny blurted out.
"Get on the train, Clementine."
Lee and Eleanor gave him a hard stare as Clementine jumped in behind Chuck.
Katjaa walked towards us, Duck still in her arms.
"He's getting sicker." She said.
She was right. It looked like Duck couldn't even walk anymore. All that waiting around while Lee, Eleanor and Kenny got the train ready must've taken a toll on him.
He didn't look like he had much time left…
"Let me look at him." Kenny said defiantly, and peeked at his son's pale face.
His eye's widened, and he backed away slowly.
"We can't ignore this…" Eleanor started.
"Look at the kid, Kenny. This is happening." Lee added.
"Ain't shit happening. And if it were, what can we do here? We get on the train, and we find something better. THAT is the plan." Kenny spat.
"I think Lee and El just want to talk it through." Katjaa said calmly.
"It's talked through! Get on, Kat." Kenny snarled, making Katjaa look to the ground sadly. "I'll be up front. I don't want to hear any nonsense until we get where we're going." And with that, Kenny walked to the front of the train.
Katjaa shared a worried glance with Lee, then walked into the car with Clementine, Ben and Chuck.
Eleanor followed behind them, and Lee followed Kenny.
Eleanor looked out the side of the train as they started forward, taking in a deep breath. Clementine stood with her, and turned to see Duck curled in Katjaa's arms.
It was silent, but everyone knew he wasn't going to make it.
Everyone knew he didn't have much time left.
They had to knock some sense into Kenny before it was too late.
Hope you liked it!
Constructive Criticism is appreciated.