This is the final chapter of The Cupcake Dilemma! Please review and enjoy it.
It was morning, and there was an egg.
Kenny heard the comforting sound of the hen crooning to herself and opened his eye. About three feet away he saw the pale egg, sitting in a pan on the ground, a safe distance from the fire. His eyebrows raised. He had expected the hen to be too upset from her recent adventures to lay any eggs. So much for what he knew about poultry.
And so much for what he knew about women. Or about one woman named Carol, at least. He knew she'd gone.
He felt something tugging on his hair and swivelled his eye to find the hen poised above him, head cocked and curved beak horribly close to his face.
"Jesus!"
He rolled away from her, which sent her into a startled flap and set his ticker racing. He arose to his feet and looked up at the loft, which had a definitely empty feel. He thought for a moment, then put his hand on the egg. Still a bit warm. Carol hadn't been gone all that long. She'd left early in the morning, after putting the egg in the pan to keep it safe for him.
"Damn," he murmured.
He looked around and saw his knife and gun laid neatly side-by-side on a barrel by the door. Well, thank God for that.
He fed the hen and gave her water then went up into the loft, feeling every sore muscle in his arms and legs as he pulled himself up the ladder. There was a pile of straw up there and nothing else. Carol had really gone. Damn. Well, that was her choice.
He sighed regretfully, climbed back down and slipped outside to take care of morning business. The sky was clear and blue and the smells were the fresh morning smells of a new day. He realised it was an hour after dawn. If he were to get back to the kids today, he had to leave within the next hour.
He had time for a little breakfast, though, and so cooked and ate the egg. His stomach told him it was the right thing to do. He hadn't treated his poor old body well lately, but the good feed last night and undisturbed rest had done wonders. In fact, that was the best night's sleep he'd had since…since before all this started.
He put out the fire, then packed, slipped his gun and knife into his pockets, and stretched his arms for a minute, mostly to ward off the moment of taking on the burdens of the backpack and the hen once again. But soon enough, a sense of urgency gripped him and he picked up his pack, scooped up the hen and slipped through the doors.
He followed the path around the side of the house and jumped in fright when something bashed on a window beside him. A walker stood inside the house, eyes glaring at him as its face pressed against the glass, its jaws working as it scratched fruitlessly at the window. A second figure lurched up behind it. Kenny hurried by, knowing that the weight of both walkers could break the window and then they would be up on their feet and lurching after him – possible with more friends currently hidden from view.
He trotted down the driveway and back up the concealed road, which took him back to the gravel road that ran towards the North-East. He followed it and an uneventful hour and a half later, he found the highway.
He knew to be careful here. The last thing he wanted was to run into any scavenging parties from the farm. He walked on or near the highway for over six hours, keeping his ears sharp and retreating into the trees whenever the warning hum of a vehicle approached.
It was strange, but motor vehicles really stank nowadays. He thought he knew why. The air was cleaner without all the traffic of civilization and he'd become used to it. The smell of exhaust made him feel sick now. He wasn't the only one; he'd seen Clementine pull a face at the smell of a car going by.
He only had trouble once when he had to drop the hen to kill a walker, then spent the next twenty minutes trying to catch her again. It was only when he'd chased her deep into the trees and realised the futility of playing her game that he finally used his brain and sat down to open his pack.
"C'mere, Ma'am, you little shit," he crooned as he brought out the Ship's Biscuit. She stopped scratching in the leafmould and hooned over to him. He let her have a few pecks at the crumbs he'd put on the ground and then grabbed her, ignoring her outraged protests.
"Yeah, yeah. Call the cops," he told her, and tucking her firmly under his arm, resumed their journey.
It was still early afternoon when he turned off the highway. Another hour and he found himself moving through familiar territory; his territory. His step became lighter and he began to bounce a bit when he walked; he whistled through his teeth.
And then, there was the cabin, right in front of him.
He circled it first, making sure everything was alright before he approached. He couldn't see the kids, but he and Clem had rehearsed this, and she knew where she should be. He bent and looked at the darkness under the porch, but there was no kid with a gun there.
Kenny's skin prickled. He continued his circle and approached the cabin from the rear.
There was the rough fence he'd made and the new vegetable patch, and AJ, sitting in the dirt by himself as he sucked on an old carrot.
"Ay!" AJ said, and carefully touched the carrot to the earth before putting it in his mouth again.
"AJ," Kenny said, tossing the hen over the fence before hopping over himself. "Hey, buddy, where's Clem?"
AJ stared at the white hen, the dirty carrot pointing like a finger at Kenny.
Kenny dropped his backpack and scooped up the baby. He swung around in a circle, looking around at the trees and the cabin. He held the baby out and checked his diaper, which was wet but not poopy.
"She was here with you within a couple hours ago," he muttered. "Clem! Hey, Clem! CLEM!"
"Kenny? I'm in the outhouse! Wait, I'll just – "
There were hurried movements within the little tin shed that served as the outhouse and within a minute Clem came flying out of it. He just had time to put the baby down before she flung herself at him.
"Jesus, I thought – are you ok?" he asked. "You alright?"
"Yep," she said, and pulled back to look at him. "You were away too long this time, Kenny."
"Hey, I'm back when I said I would be," he said, hurt at the criticism.
"I know, but it was still too long. I had to kill a couple of walkers that got too close."
"Man, I'm sorry, kid," he responded, contrite. "Darn it, I'm sorry. Yeah. It's just the food situation. We have to go further afield now."
Clementine looked up at him seriously. "If we can't be self-sufficient here, we'll have to move on, Kenny."
He sighed and closed his eyes for a moment.
"Not yet," Clementine said hurriedly, as if she knew this was too much for him to contemplate right now. "I mean, after these crops are done."
He nodded, and opened his eye in startlement when she squealed.
"WHAT the – KENNY? OH, MY GOD!"
Clementine ran over to the hen, who scuttled away in fright.
"A chicken! Kenny, where did you FIND it? Is it a girl?"
"Don't chase her, Clem," he said wearily, but he laughed. "Yeah, it's definitely a girl."
"How do you tell?" she said, looking dubiously at the lack of tell-tale underparts.
"She laid an egg, I'd say that's pretty good testimony," he said.
"She's pretty," Clem said. "Really pretty! And we're gonna have eggs, now!"
"We do," he said, feeling glad. "And you know what, kid? I'm gonna go inside and unpack, then I'm gonna show you a surprise, ok? Then I'm gonna crash on the bed for a while."
"Ooh, ok!" she smiled.
Clem scooped up the baby and he picked up his pack.
"When I was little, we had a dog," she said as she led the way inside. "He was old, though. Mom and Dad had him put down. I never thought I'd have a pet again. Or that AJ would ever have one."
She turned to look at him.
"Kenny, we're going to keep her for eggs, not eat her, aren't we?"
"Yep," he said. "C'mon, kid. I've got stuff in here you wouldn't believe."
He unpacked his bag in the kitchen before Clementine's dazzled eyes. She touched the packets of pasta and crumbled some herbs between her fingers. She had less reaction to the onions, even though they were the most nutritious food she'd seen in a good while.
He brought out the flask of milk and then reached up to his hiding place at the very top of the cabinets and brought down the cupcake packet mix. He placed it in front of Clementine and watched her face as her hand crept forward to take it. She didn't seem to understand at first.
"And we'll have an egg tomorrow, so what does a packet of cupcake mix, a cup of milk and an egg equal…?" he asked her, as though he were a schoolteacher.
Clem's smile was like the sunrise. He had never been hugged so hard in his life.
Kenny awoke to the smell of baking.
"God, that smells incredible," he said aloud. He dragged himself up off his bed and stumbled, bleary-eyed and wild-haired, into the kitchen. His gaze went to where a dozen cupcakes sat on a cracked old plate.
"I thought we were gonna make these together," he said to Clementine, who was studying the back of the cupcake box
"Did you?" she said absently. "Ah, yeah, it says here…for the icing, we need to mix butter with the chocolate powder for the frosting. But we don't have any, so I can use a little bit of milk, maybe…?" She looked up at him and blinked. "Huh?"
"Doesn't matter," he smiled. "They smell great."
"Yeah, they do," she agreed. "And they're cool enough, now. Would you like to help?"
"I sure would!"
Clementine made a very runny frosting and they stood side by side as they spread it over the cupcakes. Then came the grand moment.
"I'll get AJ," Clementine said, and left the room, returning quickly with the baby on her hip. He still clutched his dirty carrot.
"He can't eat a cupcake but he can taste the frosting," she said.
"He's never had sugar. He'll never forget it," Kenny said.
Clem swiped her finger through the leftovers in the bowl and inserted her finger into AJ's mouth. The little boy stared at her neutrally for a moment, and then his eyes went huge. His feet kicked out in startlement.
Clementine laughed uproariously, and Kenny went into a thigh-slapping paroxysm of mirth.
"Oh, we've corrupted the little fella now!" he hooted. "Come on, it's our turn."
Clementine picked up a cupcake and bit into it. Kenny chose his own and did the same. AJ reached out towards Clem's cupcake with determined avarice in his eyes.
Kenny held his cupcake close to his face, looking at the bite he'd taken out of it while he chewed on the overly-sweet cake. Clementine lost control and shoved the rest of her cupcake into her mouth. AJ screeched in outrage as it disappeared and Clem quickly scooped up another cupcake and let the baby dabble his fingers in it. Her eyes shone over at Kenny, above her bulging cheeks.
And in that moment of sticky chewing and licking of chocolatey fingers, Kenny realised why he'd been so stupid, so willing to take terrible risks for - apparently - so little reward.
Clementine took the baby's hand and gently guided it over the hen's white feathers.
"What'll we call her?" she asked, looking up at Kenny as he watched them from the back stoop.
"Uh, I just call her "Ma'am," he said.
Clementine laughed. "That's silly. Let me think. How about…hmm, well she's white like a ghost, so maybe Casper? But she's not a boy, so maybe, hmmm…"
"Better not use the name of a ghost," he said lightly. "Too many around nowadays; the others might get jealous. She's a good little soul, so call her something that sounds nice. Nice 'n'…happy."
"Ok," Clem said. "Milkshake."
The sun shone on them in this place of temporary respite. Kenny found that something inside him had relaxed a little.
They had them some peace, for now.
"God bless Milkshake, then."
Annnd... That was the last chapter of The Cupcake Dilemma! Thank you all so much for your support and reviews, you're all amazing! I hope you enjoyed this story!