Chapter 10
Old Friends
"I love you, Lee…More than anything in the world."
The last line she spoke to her lover before their transmission was ended still hung on Carley's lips as she walked hand-in-hand with Clementine through the ghost-town that was Savannah. Just to hear that Lee was alive and safe was enough to warm her heart which had been growing colder with every passing hour since their tragic separation. Her head, however, was alerting her to the fact that it wasn't long until the sun completely set, and that they desperately needed to find either a boat or shelter. And fast.
Of course, she felt deep concern for him given his present state as a prisoner of sorts in a brutal hellhole that made the St. John's Dairy look like a utopia by comparison. Furthermore, the witch she so loathed and despised was still with him, no doubt clouding his decision-making and putting him in more danger than was already necessary. Considering the way Lee and Lilly were bickering on the other end when they realized it was Carley who was speaking to them, the road ahead would be shrouded with dark clouds and uncertainty for everyone.
Although it pained her as she did not want to put a strain on Lee's faith in Ben, she resolved to tell Lee the truth about what had caused the chain of events which led to their separation. Lee's voice was filled with disgust and outrage as soon as he heard Carley's explanation, whereas Lilly, once so fierce in her criticism and disdain for Carley, seemed to go eerily quiet and did not speak again.
Even for Carley herself, Ben's treachery and how he managed to keep a secret of it for so long was difficult to believe. As the young boy was weak in both spirit and resolve, Carley looked back in amazement and wondered to herself just how she, an investigative reporter, never got the truth out of him until it was far too late. Despite having eyes and ears which could detect bullshit from politicians by merely looking at their faces and listening to a single sentence they spoke, she had completely let up her guard when it came to a nervous and jittery teenage boy.
But perhaps it seemed so natural, his fear? It seemed perfectly reasonable that Ben was easy to frighten due to his tender age and the traumatic experiences he had to put up with before coming across their group. Deep down, Carley admitted that she was at times intimidated by both Lilly and Larry; for a person like Ben, it was the perfect excuse to explain away any and all signs of fear.
Once the subject shifted away from spiteful mourning of the past and towards the future, Carley felt overwhelmed as a rush of emotions crashed over her. Her arm subconsciously wrapped around herself almost as if she was in a state of delirium, hallucinating Lee in front of her, holding her warm and tight. Hearing his voice despite it being little over a day since their separation made her understand exactly what kind of emotions raced in the heart of a wife who saw her husband return from war – something she was always so curious about ever since her first news coverage of a unit returning from Afghanistan. No matter what soft and soothing words she exchanged with Lee, the lack of his touch still left an emptiness that couldn't be filled until he returned to her.
To hear that he, Lilly and Glenn had fallen into the clutches of a monster such as the Governor was enough to cause a chill to run up and down her spine. Despite that, however, she kept her faith and belief in Lee, and knew he would make it out to be reunited with her.
Lee would never let her down. He never had.
"Carley?" Clementine said, causing her to look down to her right. The little girl squeezed her hand and her voice was low and had the slight hint of a whine, like a puppy when it wanted something.
"What is it, honey?" Carley said back, and saw that Clem was indeed looking up at her with puppy-like brown eyes.
"When can I get it back? My walkie-talkie?" Clem requested, glancing at the device which was put into the left pocket of Carley's purple jacket.
"I'm sorry, Clementine," Carley said rather stiffly. "I have to hold onto this at least until we find out whoever has been making contact with you through it. Plus, we might hear from Lilly and Lee again, so I have to listen in for it."
"Oh…okay," Clementine sighed, and looked down as she continued on her feet.
Peering around, not one sign of life could be seen anywhere around the streets of Savannah – a good sign at least, as it meant that their efforts to enter the city quietly after keeping the train moving at a slower pace had paid off. Still, the group remained on high alert, as every one of them knew that if a place seemed to be abandoned, chances are was that it definitely wasn't. Kenny and Carley's fingers rested nervously on their pistols, the former fearing that a repeat of him and Lee's scavenging expedition in Macon would occur with walkers strolling out for an ambush.
An eerie, wafting and weak odor of gasoline filled the air of Savannah, and the wrecked state of the city hinted at the mass frantic evacuation and exodus out of the city which must have ensued in the earlier days. The wreckage of cars with their windshields smashed in and wheels removed, letterboxes trashed and broken, and blood splattered on almost every pavement told Carley all that she needed to know about what kind of place they were walking into.
Still, things were far too strange for her liking. She still remembered the streets of Macon being reminiscent of a war zone with bodies scattered all over the place, half of them rising and reanimating to attack any living beings around them. But this city…it was squeaking clean when it came to the bodies of walkers or deceased people, even though Carley clearly remembered hearing on the radio that Savannah was also declared a State 9 catastrophe. It was almost as if…
Someone moved them.
"I don't like this place," Carley said, her voice trembling as she visibly shuddered, raising the concerns of Omid and Christa who walked behind her.
"You think any of us do?" Kenny muttered at the head of the group, his strides showing a sense of confidence, or at least an effort on his part to distract himself from his terrible loss.
"No, it's not that," Carley shook her head. "What I mean is, just look around – there's not a single corpse to be seen. We can't be alone here, you know what I mean?"
"Carley's right – we have to be on guard," Christa agreed. "Omid and I learned the hard way. If a city seems abandoned, that means it's probably filled with danger."
"Heh, you got that one right," Kenny grunted. "If it seems innocent, it ain't. How many cannibals you wanna bet are in this place, Kat?"
"That's the least of my worries, Ken. All I want is to find the boat quickly and get out of here as soon as we can," Katjaa said, walking very close to her husband for safety.
"Just because ya find a boat, doesn't mean you're outta trouble," Chuck reminded them, his hand sporting a rough shovel as opposed to the others who mostly carried handguns. "Even if that's your goal, just look at this place," he said, pointing forward with his hand. "Considering how so many cars have been stripped dry of tires, do you honestly think there's a boat around here?"
"Hey, it's worth a shot, old man," Kenny shot back angrily. "Besides, what choice do we have? It's the end of the tracks for the train, and we sure ain't getting anywhere far on foot. The food you kept stashed in the train is gonna run out in under a week at best. We need to keep movin' onward."
"Onward to where though, Ken?" Katjaa asked, glancing at him out of concern. "Chuck is right – we have no plan whatsoever."
"I'm tellin' ya, we should just head on to Austin, Texas!" Omid suggested with cheer, although Christa gave him a sigh of disapproval.
"Don't bring up Chuck Norris again," she muttered.
"Aah, come on! Walkers probably run away from Chuck Norris instead of the other way around!" Omid chuckled, never finding it impossible to crack a joke even in the darkest of times.
"But…what about Lee?" Clementine said, squeezing Carley's hand. "Shouldn't we go back for him?"
The old group stayed silent for a moment as they thought of their former companions. Kenny sighed in disappointment, knowing that he failed to look out for a friend who saved his son's life. Glancing over to her right, Carley saw that Ben had a guilt-ridden expression on his face while looking downwards at the pavement. She still hadn't told Kenny and Katjaa the truth behind Ben's contribution to the chaos which led to them evacuating the motor inn, the penalty for which was that Duck was destined to die. But the right time would come soon enough, although now was definitely not it to be sure.
"We can't, Clem. I'm sorry," Carley said after a long silence, visibly breaking the poor girl's heart as she began to weep.
"We're really not going back for them?" Katjaa asked in shock.
"Carley's right, honey," Kenny sighed. "We can't track back; it'll mean that the entire train ride was for nothing. And besides, didn't Lee say that he and Lilly are in some kind of a fortress hellhole?" he looked back to Carley, receiving from her a glum frown.
"What can we do?" Ben shrugged. "Do we seriously just leave them?"
"You said it yourself – what can we do?" Kenny said, his pace somewhat beginning to quicken, as if he was being put off with all the talk of going back. "How much ammo do you think we have? And what good can we do against a place that has goddamn Abrams tanks, for Christ's sake?"
"But…but we can't just leave him! He's…he's Lee!" Clem cried, tugging at Carley's jacket.
"Clem, listen to me," Carley said, gently stroking the side of the child whom she regarded as her daughter. "I love Lee just as much as you do. I know he's been like a dad figure to you for the past few months, but to me he was like…like…"
A husband. The one whom I loved with every fiber of my being, and the one whom I would gladly give my own life for, after he almost gave his for mine.
"I can't really say it, but you understand, don't you?" Carley continued, receiving a somber nod from Clem. "But I have faith in him. Lee's a resourceful guy, and he's got Lilly with him. They'll make it out, you'll see."
"Okay." Clem looked away, not entirely convinced.
"This place," Kenny exhaled, dismayed by the sight of the ruined city. "I can't believe it's all turned to hell."
"You visited this place before?" Christa asked.
"Yep, came here once every now and then while I was still a commercial fisherman," Kenny explained. "Had a lot of good friends and business contacts here. Good people. Probably all dead or walking now."
The last bit spoken by Kenny didn't do anything to lighten up Clementine's spirits. Rather, it dampened them…drowned them with sorrow. Carley noticed this and placed her hand on Clem's shoulder. The young girl's skin was cold despite the hoodie that she was given by Lee from the abandoned car. To top it all off, winter was soon approaching, and they were already low on food…
"River street should be up ahead, maybe two or three blocks at best," Kenny went on. "Let's just hope that this city is as empty as it makes itself seem, and—" He froze stiff when he heard the loud crashing of a trash can which fell onto the road. Swiftly turning around, he cursed inwardly when he saw Ben lying on the ground, presumably having tripped over a broken portion of pavement which was situated near his feet.
"Shit! Sorry, sorry," Ben apologized in a whisper and quickly scrambled to his feet.
All stayed silent and tense for a moment, listening in for the slightest hint of those all too familiar growls of their predators. Clementine immediately held onto Carley with her eyes trembling and darting about, and Katjaa placed a shaking hand on Kenny's arm. Then, the tension having died down after they realized that no walkers were around, Christa complained to Ben in a hushed voice.
"Jesus Christ! Don't do that again, otherwise, we'll—" Her face froze over with fear. Out from a street corner one block ahead strolled a walker, its steps uneven and lurched. Behind it was another walker, and another…and another. "Be in for company…"
"Fucking hell, run!" Kenny shouted, and the entire group quickly made a dash for the street which was located at a left turn. Although in normal circumstances everyone in the group would have resorted to using tools other than their pistols in order to dispatch the occasional walker, now was certainly not the time. Dozens of walkers suddenly filled the street behind them, and several more were en route through alleyways and adjoining streets.
"Goddamn!" Carley cursed, shooting her pistol with her right hand while gripping onto Clementine's hand with the other. The little girl was full of fear, panting and whimpering beside her, their palms growing sweatier and looser with each passing second.
"Come on! Follow me! River Street's not far from here!" Kenny shouted, leading the group from the head while his terrified wife followed just behind him. They all sprinted for their lives down the main street, the herd of walkers growling and wailing behind them. His old fisherman's senses not lost to him, Kenny could easily recognize the salty smell of the ocean, distinguishing it from the musty gasoline smell which covered the cityscape. Although it wasn't nearly enough to enable him to smile in the situation they were in, it was something to feel optimistic about nonetheless.
If there were boats waiting there, that was.
"Kenny! How much farther?" Ben yelled, his frightened tone evidence of his petrified state. To make matters worse, Ben was virtually completely unarmed – his fault, admittedly, for being such a poor shot compared to the others: one reason why Lilly only ever posted him on watch duty during the safest hours of the day.
"Not much longer! Just a bit further, and—woah! Holy shit!" Kenny came to a grinding halt, his shoes skidding against the road and his eyes widening in terror as he saw yet another horde of walkers emerging from behind the buildings along the next street. Due to the presence of a number of shops situated horizontally across the street, cutting off the road in the shape of a 'T', there was no hope in the world of the group continuing onwards in the path they were headed. Panic gripped them as they looked forward, then behind…forward…behind…Everywhere they looked, the streets were filled with walkers. Just like sharks circling around doomed prey.
There was no escape.
"Shit! What the hell do we do? We can't possibly fight through that!" Omid choked, his mouth almost completely dry from all the running.
"We will fight through it! We have to!" his girlfriend, much filled with bravery than him, said with confidence, aiming her pistol at the oncoming swarm. Beads of sweat trickled down the back of her neck – there was only one more spare ammo clip for her to use once this one was depleted.
"Kenny! What do we do? Which way?" Katjaa cried.
"There's only one way to go! Forward to the damn docks! Now!" Kenny ordered, raising his pistol at the first walker which bounded his way. But in his heart and those of everyone else's, he knew that it was little more than a brave suicide. Going out with a bang, because the easy way out was never something he could choose. He pressed his finger on the trigger to fire, and the walker fell still onto the road.
But his pistol didn't fire.
Embedded in the left side of the walker's head was a small knife, just like the shape of a knife which one would use to cut an apple with. Another knife flew into the second walker's head, the precision so great that it made the group wonder just who was capable of such a feat.
"What the hell?" Omid said, staring with curiosity at the knives sticking out of the walkers' heads. Then, looking to their right, the answer was before their eyes. Two unknown figures dressed in jeans and light hoodies fast as lightning darted across the rooftops of several shops, with one continuing on down in the direction of the main street while the other leapt down onto the balcony of a ruined restaurant, then down again, holding onto the ruined stone support column with one gloved hand while keeping his or her balance by softening the descent with the side of a shoe.
Examining the lithe and agile movements of the stranger, Carley guessed that their mysterious savior was a woman. The unknown fighter, once she had laid foot on the ground, darted towards the two dead walkers, retrieving the two knives from deep within their temples. She quickly clipped them into a durable leather belt modified with additional straps and holsters to hold a multitude of weapons, then promptly proceeded to take out from within her jacket a sharp kitchen knife, and a mean-looking meat cleaver. Rather than engage the endless swarm of walkers head-on, the woman turned around, revealing light skin, dark brown eyes and a white mask which covered the lower portion of her face beneath the nose. She pointed quickly towards an alleyway which was lightly populated with oncoming walkers, but offered a far more probable chance of survival as opposed to Kenny's idea of heading down to River Street.
The stranger sighed and rolled her eyes when she saw that the group were frozen stiff with incredulous looks on their faces. Believing that they would follow her lead, she ran for the alleyway, expertly dispatching of the walkers with her knife work in a way that made Carley feel for certain that Omid would later remark that she reminded him of Legolas from the Lord of the Rings. Still, putting up with another lame joke was a far better option than being eaten alive with her dear Clementine.
"Come on! Let's follow her!" Carley shouted, entrusting Clementine to the care of Omid and Christa who came right up behind her while she ran forward to provide covering fire to the stranger who saved their lives. The alleyway was a narrow one, perhaps four yards in length. To make it worse, a light stream of walkers continued to come at them from the street which they were headed to, and Carley was in no mood to use her bullets liberally. To the left and right were several restaurants in shambles, the glass having been smashed in and dried blood smeared all over the overturned tables, chairs and other furniture.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Omid panted as he and all the others followed after her.
"You got a better one, then let's hear it!" Carley grunted, firing a well-aimed shot into the forehead of a walker, allowing the mystery woman to cleave the head of another to the right.
"Out of the fire and into the frying pan, but sure, I'll take it!" Omid said humorously, sidestepping to dodge a walker which fell at his feet after having its head skewered by the woman's butcher knife.
Although her head pounded and screamed at her to keep her attention fixed onto her front, Carley couldn't help but look back a moment to check on Clementine. To her relief, Omid and Christa were more than dependable, and Clementine ran right in between them. Directly behind the three followed Kenny and Katjaa, the former grunting in exasperation as the presence of his companions in front of him meant that he couldn't possibly aim for walkers. And at the very rear was Chuck, safeguarding their advance while keeping a close eye on a frantic Ben who looked backward almost as frequently as he panted.
And good grief, was it a mistake.
"Gaah! Christ!" Ben suddenly wailed, falling into a heap onto the floor after skidding against a large piece of broken glass which caused him to lose his balance. He struggled to get up, but the moment he planted his feet on the ground again, his legs gave way again and he came crashing down against a knocked-over trash can. Chuck immediately turned around, his eyes full of worry as he stared at the incoming bunch of walkers which bounded towards him and Ben. Up front, the stranger made a quick turn of her head to see the source of commotion, but soon turned her attention back to hacking away at the walkers' heads.
"Jesus fuck, we don't have time for this!" Kenny growled as he looked back at Ben, while his feet were grinding against the ground, itching to get a move-on. From where she stood, Carley quickly came to understand why a small part of Lee held disdain for Kenny's inner nature. The Floridian would put on the act of a capable leader when he was confident, but when he was pushed up against the wall, he was little more than a coward, just like he admitted to her on the train.
"My ankle! My ankle's rolled! I can't run!" Ben screamed, his face and hair drenched with sweat as he desperately got up and limped towards the main group. Then, looking up at an imposing walker which growled and seemed almost ready to pounce, Ben prepared himself for death until he heard a loud clanging noise, followed by the walker falling still onto the ground before him.
"Get going! We'll catch up with ya!" Chuck shouted to the front and pulled Ben up with a strong grip on the back of his clothing. At that moment, any shadow of a doubt that Carley had about Chuck's character and whether or not she could trust him were gone. Ben was little more than an acquaintance to Chuck, and yet he was defending him almost as if Ben was his own blood.
"Carley! Get the fuck moving! Now!" Kenny said, facing forward again and running like a mad bull towards the end of the alleyway where the stranger was waiting for them impatiently, a trail of walkers and rotting flesh behind her. Upon seeing that Chuck pulled Ben inside a former restaurant complex through a large shattered window, Carley saw that there was nothing more she could do for them. Listening to Kenny's demands, she raced after the woman who formed a small gap between a continuously growing group of walkers while making her way down another street.
Left, right, left, right, across another alleyway and then through a parking lot…Carley simply couldn't hope to remember the way back to the train in case all went to hell. Fortunately, the woman was still in sight, although the sheer speed and constant, never-ending running of the woman made Carley wish that she went to the gym not only to look good for the camera, but also to be able to run a marathon.
"How…much…farther?" Katjaa gasped, virtually out of breath. Far too used to a stationary life in the motor inn they were forced to abandon, she felt that it was only a matter of seconds before she collapsed of fatigue.
"Dammit, we can't keep this up! Where's that bitch leading us?" Kenny growled.
"Hey!" Carley yelled at the woman who turned her head back briefly to look upon her before facing forward again. "Hey, where the flying fuck are you taking us?"
Not bothering to answer, the woman swiftly pointed outward with her meat cleaver towards what was a two-storey house, the first in a line of similar houses in a street which was fortunately devoid of walkers – for the time being, at least. The design was distinct; a mixture of Victorian and German architectural influences with large arch windows, red bricks and white windowsills. Large evergreen trees were situated just inside the brick wall on the left side of the land plot, shielding that side of the house from view. The front garden was utterly ruined, the cracked and shattered remains of a grey stone fountain littered across the grass.
By instinct, Carley first looked to the front door of the house, but her optimism sunk when she saw that it was completely boarded up. It made her wonder: just how in the world could someone even afford to spend time fortifying the place when the epidemic broke out? Something was wrong with the house, evidently.
…Or could this woman be using the house as a safe haven of sorts?
Needless to say, Carley kept up with the woman as best as she could. To her and the others' relief, she headed for the gate of the house which was located to the left as the approached. After waving her arm at the others who only barely managed to run in behind her, the woman hastily closed the gate and ran in, grateful for the fact that no walkers were around to see or hear them. But oh, how they could hear the walkers. A chorus of groans and angry gargles could be heard from more than two blocks away as the walkers traveled in their general direction.
"Well? Whatever the fuck now? Some safe spot you led us to!" Kenny whined at the woman who still didn't reveal her face.
"Who the hell are you? What do you want with us?" Christa demanded to know, crossing her arms grumpily.
The stranger was clearly in no mood to answer any of their questions. Instead, she darted towards the center portion of the walls which were covered in thick, green ivy branches. After brushing aside some ivy with her hands, she revealed what was a long sturdy rope. She gave it a brief tug, ensuring that it was firm and stable before quickly climbing up it towards a window which was kept slightly ajar. The natural wall of evergreen trees extended to the southern perimeter, ensuring that she was completely out of the view of unwanted attention as she pulled up the window and slipped in.
"Holy shit," Omid said, wide-eyed in amazement. "Looks like someone was an Assassin's Creed fan before all this crap started."
"Can we trust her, though? What if it's a trap?" Kenny questioned, and soon the whole group gathered as one against the wall, eyeing the rope.
"Ah, ah, ah," the stranger softly berated them as she looked down on them from the second level. "One person at a time."
A voice was easily mistakable for another, but something…something about the woman's tone was eerily familiar to Carley. The vibrant, cheerful color of that assurance told Carley that she should waive her fears and put her trust in the woman.
Then again, it was either risk that or face the certainty of being eaten alive by walkers. A cruel game, but it was a game she was obliged to play.
"Guys, I'll go first," Carley volunteered, holstering her pistol in the back pocket of her jeans before stepping up to the ladder and grasping it with her right hand.
"You sure about this? What if it's a trap, just like Kenny says?" Christa said, peering up at the window from which the woman was still peeping down at them.
"I know a slimeball when I see them, Christa," Carley assured him. "But this girl…There's something about her voice. I think we can trust her."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Omid shook his head as Carley grabbed hold of the rope and set one foot against the wall to support her climb. "And I'm not trying to quote Star Wars here."
"Don't you worry," Carley said. "I'll make sure that it's fine for us to go up there, and—" She stopped in her speech when she felt a gently tugging on her jacket. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Clementine was looking at her with those innocent brown eyes again, silently begging her not to go. Clem's eyes were still moist with tears, both from fear and sorrow over having lost contact with Chuck and Ben.
"Please…," Clem wept. "Please don't…"
"It'll be alright, Clem. Just you watch," Carley smiled, momentarily freeing one hand to stroke her dear child's cheek before beginning to climb. "I'll be fine. I'll see you all at the top."
With that, Carley heaved herself up the rope, cursing herself for never using weights when she used to go to the gym. Still, her eyes were fixed upon those of the woman whose arm which was held out in anticipation of her arrival. They were a striking, dark chocolate brown, and her skin was fair and leaning slightly golden. Once she reached the top of the rope, Carley was face to face with her, while her right hand hung eerily in midair as she hesitated on whether or not to trust the woman. Her choice was made for her, however, when the woman pulled her up and into the room, diverting her to her own right.
Looking around in her new surroundings, Carley noticed that she was in what appeared to be a study room that was largely kept unmolested. Two bookshelves with all their books and folders intact stood next to one another on the left wall, and a computer monitor, desk and chair were neatly arranged on the right. Loose cords and power extension cords hung about under the desk, and the system unit that was supposed to be wired to the cords was absent. Instead, it was lying flat just under the windowsill, acting as an anchor of sorts to the rope which was tied in a knot against a metal rod which was driven deep into the wall. The system unit applied pressure to the end tip of the rod which leaned in an upward angle and into the wall, ensuring that the rope would not slip out the end.
Once Carley was in, the woman gave her a quick nod and briefly squeezed her right upper arm. It felt weird to Carley, as it was not an action that a stranger would have taken. It was almost as if…the woman knew her?
Nevertheless, being safe and having reason to believe that the woman would not harm her, Carley looked out the window and reached out to her friends, signifying that they could trust their newfound tag-along. Kenny came up first as an insurance policy, and then the others soon followed after him once he gave them the OK. A symphony of pants, grunts and moans then followed as most of the tired group collapsed onto the floor, breathing deeply. Seeing that they were out of danger, the woman walked over and laid her bloodied weapons on the computer desk before coming back to Carley who was slumped against the wall just next to the windowsill with Clementine sitting down beside her.
Although seeing a figure standing over her in her current state would have stricken fear in her heart in normal circumstances, Carley couldn't help but feel that this woman could in fact be trusted. She had an air of familiarity about her for reasons she couldn't understand. The woman looked down at her with what appeared to be sullen eyes. Teardrops started to form, and soon one of them fell onto the left leg of Carley's jeans.
"Now," Kenny said as he opened his eyes and sat up from his previous laid-back position on the floor, "who the hell are you? And why the hell in the world did you help us in that alleyw—" He stopped talking altogether when he saw, to his amazement, that the stranger was tightly embracing a visibly shocked Carley. Her arms held around Carley, the stranger pulled her up onto her feet before touching her cheek with a gloved hand, as if she was making sure that her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.
"I always told you that you didn't need to put on that much makeup to look beautiful, didn't I?" the woman teased, cupping Carley's cheeks in her hands.
That voice. That voice! It couldn't be…
"You…you're…," Carley murmured, her eyes widening as she continued to look deep into those dark brown eyes.
Slowly, the stranger removed her hood and pulled down her mask, revealing a flawless face that was envious to women and drop-dead gorgeous to men. Her hair was long, albeit tied back in a braided ponytail, and her rosy red lips were beyond perfection. She was Asian in appearance, and her bright smile enough to brighten Carley's day even after the darkest of times.
"Rebecca Chang," she replied with an angelic grin, confirming Carley's thoughts. "The best friend you ever had."
"Oh…my…God…," Carley now began to cry unreservedly as she lurched into Rebecca's embrace and wrapped her arms around the friend she thought dead.
"There, there, hun, it's alright," Rebecca chuckled as she felt Carley's tears wetting her shirt. She looked with a smile at little Clementine who looked up at her with dumbfounded eyes. Clem was quite possibly the most adorable child she had ever seen, and the thought of Carley acting as a mother figure amused her.
Moments later, Carley's tears subsided as she recomposed herself. Breaking apart from the hug, she kept her hands on Rebecca's upper arms while she examined her friend closely, recalling and marveling at her prowess in melee combat with her knives. The two friends smiled at each other silently for a moment, completely oblivious to the crowd of confused eyes which were on them. Then, something else caught her attention as Carley looked downward with an eerie grimace on her face.
"Bec?" she said in a confused tone, peering at something beneath Rebecca's neckline which piqued her interest.
"Yeah? What is it, Carley?" she smiled at her long-time friend.
"Why are you wearing my old shirt?"
A/N: Couldn't help adding that last bit about Rebecca's shirt; her and Carley's outfit from Episode 1 are almost identical, heheh. Like I said in the previous chapter, the two of them were college friends. I'll go further into their relationship and past in two chapters' time. The other figure accompanying Rebecca was indeed Molly, so she'll also be brought in by then.
Because I did an original introduction for Omid and Christa, that means that Omid won't be lying in bed with an injured leg. I'll probably have to make a lot of changes when it comes to Crawford as a result. I also know that I said I'd put in a full narrative recount of Carley's contact with Lee and Lilly, but I didn't want to go down the road of stretching that too long. Apologies for that.
Thanks for all the support you guys have shown so far – it's great. Hope to hear from more of you in reviews!