A/N: We have a friend from TYS visiting this chapter. You can all probably guess who it is. It's pretty obvious.
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
"Oh my gosh he's not breathing. I think he has had a heart attack!" Lilly exclaimed as she tried to bring Larry back to life with CPR.
"Shit." Kenny said. "Is he dead?"
"He's not dead!" Lilly exclaimed. "Somebody help me!"
"F***." Kenny muttered as he and Zach ran over to Larry. "Come on old man. You can't be dying on us right now." Kenny said as he knelt down next to Larry.
"Let me take over. You keep checking his pulse." Zach said as he started to do chest compressions for Larry. Clementine watched on from the corner in fear. She was worried about Larry and the others if Larry would turn. Zach kept giving the older man chest compressions to revive him, but it didn't seem to be working until Larry's lip started to quiver.
"There you go. Come on old man. You got to get up." Kenny said. Lilly smiled and released a sigh of relief.
Even Zach was starting to be relieved and he stopped with his chest compressions, but there was a problem. Larry wasn't breathing. Zach's eyes widened in horror as Larry started to groan. "Dad?" Lilly asked.
"Get back." Zach exclaimed, but it was too late. Larry's eyes opened to reveal a milky white color and he quickly shot up to attack Zach. Larry had died and had turned. Zach was pushed back into the wall as Larry tried to chomp at him. He struggled to push Larry back as the older man proved to be stronger. Larry was getting closer and closer until Zach heard the door next to him open.
"Quick shoot him! He turned!" Kenny exclaimed. There was a sudden gunshot which must have hit the reanimated older man from the side. The walker fell limp as Zach groaned and huffed.
"You okay?" Carley asked as she knelt down next to him. Doug walked over and pulled Larry off of Zach.
"I think so. Thanks." Zach said as he got back up. He noticed Natalie and walked up to her. "Hey, are you okay? Did Danny hurt you?" Zach asked as he raised his hand in an attempt to comfort the woman.
She got closer to Zach and hugged him. Zach returned the hug as Natalie said, "Carley, Doug, and Ben saved me before Danny could… hurt me." She released Zach from the hug and said, "I'm okay."
"Glad to hear it." Zach said. He turned his attention to Clementine as she whimpered in the corner. Both adults walked up to her as they heard Lilly sob over her father. Kenny, Doug, and Ben stood over her with saddened looks as Carley did her best to comfort her. Zach walked up to Clementine and picked her up to into his arms. "Hey, hey." Zach said in a kind, comforting voice. He bobbed the girl up and down in his arms and said, "Sh… it's going to be okay. You'll be okay." Zach said. Natalie placed a comforting hand on the child's back as Zach continued to comfort her.
"Shit…" Kenny muttered. Zach turned around and noticed that his friend wore a scowl and he said, "They still have Katjaa and Duck in the house." Kenny immediately ran out of the room leaving no time for anyone to talk to him.
"We shouldn't let him go out there by himself." Ben said.
"Come on. We need to get out of here. It's not safe." Zach said.
"Come on, Lilly. We have to go." Carley said.
"I know… I just need a minute." Lilly said as she continued to cry.
Carley kept a supportive hand on Lilly's shoulder and turned to Zach. "Lilly and I will catch up."
"Okay." Zach said as he carried Clementine in his arms. He went for the door with Ben and Doug following him. Natalie stayed in the room momentarily before she followed the two men and the boy.
"Close your eyes." Zach said as the group reached the end of the hallway which went to the butchering room.
"They're closed." Clementine squeaked. Zach nodded and he and the others walked across the room. They entered the barn, but they didn't see Kenny anywhere. It was just Danny who was swearing for getting trapped in the bear trap.
Zach placed Clementine on the ground and said, "You can open your eyes now, sweetie." Clementine opened them and Zach led the group to the man.
"You f****** think you've beaten me. You're shitting yourself." Danny said.
Zach shook his head and quickly retrieved a pitchfork from one of the hay bales. He placed the pitchfork near Danny's neck and said, "Where's Kenny? Talk dammit."
"You see? You understand now, don't you? You can have me. It's how the world works now. Give part of yourself so others can live." Danny explained.
"I should f******* kill you right now." Lilly hissed at Danny as she and Carley approached the group.
"So, that's why you killed that woman in the woods! She was about to spill everything!" Zach exclaimed.
"You weren't ready. I had to stop her." Danny said as he grunted in pain. "You have to keep me alive, if you kill me, the meat gets tainted; you can't eat it!"
"You're already tainted!" Zach said as he placed the pitchfork closer to Danny.
"You ain't going to kill me, just like you didn't kill Jolene. You don't have what it takes… F****** cowar- Ah!" Danny exclaimed as the pitchfork that Zach had was thrown it into the hay bale behind Danny.
"No! This is not how the world works now! You won't make me kill you!" Zach exclaimed. He huffed as he looked around to his other group members. Clementine and Natalie were happy to see that Zach didn't stoop down to Danny's level. Carley, Ben, and Doug were indifferent about sparing his life, but Lilly was furious.
Lilly seethed and approached Zach with an angry glare. "Why didn't you kill him? He killed my dad." Lilly inquired.
"We don't need to stoop down to his level." Zach said as he looked down to Danny.
"F*** you." Danny said and he spat at Zach.
Zach looked to the man with a glare and said, "On second thought…" Zach drew back his fist and was ready to punch Danny, but he was stopped by Lilly who held his arm back.
"No. I'm doing it." Lilly said. She released her grip on Zach's arm and turned to Danny. She walked up to the cannibalistic man and punched the man out cold with two well placed punches. Zach looked to Lilly with worry in his eyes as the woman said, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."
Carley approached Zach and asked, "What do you want us to do?"
Zach looked to the group with all eyes on him. He had mentioned multiple times that he didn't want to be the leader, but with Lilly not feeling well after her father's death, Zach would have to step up. He looked to Carley and said, "You're the best shot we got. Get into a sniper's position and be ready to act."
"You got it." Carley said as she headed out the barn.
"What about us?" Doug asked.
"I have a very important job for you to do." Zach said. "I want you and Ben to hold down the fort here."
"You got it." Doug said.
"Be careful out there." Natalie said.
"I will." Zach said as he kissed her. Unlike last time, Zach kissed her on the lips. It caught her off guard and made her blush. Zach had always shown her affection, but this was new. Zach separated from the kiss and smiled to the woman. "I love you." Zach said as tears started to form in his eyes as he finally allowed his past relationship with Amaya to fade. He was ready to move on with his life, and he had found the woman of his dreams.
"I…I love you, too." Natalie said. Zach smiled to the woman as he slowly walked away from the group.
Zach exited the barn as the thunderstorm continued to produce a heavy rain on the farm. Zach looked to the house and headed in its direction. He knew what he had to do. He had to take out the other two St. Johns.
As he approached the house, Zach could hear Katjaa screams. "NO! NO! NO!" He looked around searching for Kenny, but there was no sign of the middle-aged man.
He approached the gate to the house and started to walk up to the house. "Just shut up and you'll be fine!" Brenda exclaimed from within the house.
Zach advanced closer to the house as the rain continued to pour. At this point, he was drenched to the bone. "Somethin's up." Zach heard from inside the house. It was Andrew's voice. "I'm going to take the boy and-"
"PLEASE, DON'T TAKE MY BOY." Katjaa pleaded.
"Let go woman!" Andrew said.
"Settle down! I don't want to hurt y'all." Brenda said. Zach continued to get closer and closer to the house.
Suddenly, he saw Brenda appear at the entrance of the door. "Danny is that you?" Brenda asked. "What's going on out there?"
"Where's Katjaa and Duck?" Zach inquired.
"Oh my gosh." Brenda said as she walked away from the door. Zach got up and headed for the door as he heard Brenda yell, "Come here!"
"Let me go!" Katjaa exclaimed. She must have been fighting back
Zach approached the door and could finally see inside. It appeared that Brenda was keeping Katjaa at gunpoint at the base of the stairs. "Zach get back! Don't you come in here." Brenda said. Zach shook his head, and he refused to back down. He looked down to the door knob and turned it to enter the house. "You just had to go snooping around, didn't you?" Brenda asked as she kept the gun pointed to Katjaa's head.
"Let her go Brenda. You know you don't want to do this." Zach said as he raised his hands to show that he wasn't a threat to her.
"Just go away and leave us be." Brenda said as she dragged her hostage up the stairs. Zach continued to approach Brenda until she trained the gun on him. "Zach, don't you take another step." Her whole hand could be seen shaking with the gun as she pointed at Zach. She either didn't want to kill him or she was afraid of him.
"Think about your farm, Brenda. Would Terry wanted any of this?" Zach asked.
"Just leave." Brenda replied as she continued to drag Katjaa up the stairs. Zach approached again until Brenda raised her gun and yelled, "I don't want to kill you, Zach." Zach noticed something that would end the stalemate which was a reanimated Mark wanting to get a hold of any human flesh it could and Brenda was very close to it.
"Please, Brenda." Zach pleaded. "Just let Katjaa go. We'll talk about this."
"Just stop," Brenda replied as she backed away from Zach but she was suddenly grabbed by Mark. She screamed in pain as Mark tore into her flesh and she lost her grip on Katjaa.
Katjaa stumbled down the stairs but easily regained her balance. She looked to Zach with fear and worry in her eyes. "They took Duck!" Katjaa exclaimed. "Where's Kenny?"
"Don't move asshole!" Andrew could be heard yelling from outside.
"Don't you f****** hurt him!" Kenny yelled.
"Oh my gosh!" Katjaa exclaimed as she ran out of the house with Zach close behind her. They both exited the house and saw Kenny snarling at Andrew while Andrew was pointing a gun to Duck's head.
"Andy don't!" Zach exclaimed as he approached him.
Andrew took the rifle's sight off of Duck for a second to address Zach. "Shut up!" Andrew exclaimed.
With a risky charge, Kenny tried to get to Duck back, but ended up getting shot for his efforts by Andrew. Katjaa screamed at the sight of Kenny getting shot, and she quickly rushed to his side. "Andy." Zach said as he raised his hands up.
"Who the f*** do you think you people are?" Andrew exclaimed. "Look at what you done!"
"You brought this upon yourself." Zach said as he slowly approached Andrew.
"We? No, uh oh. All we wanted was some damn gasoline." Andrew said. Suddenly, a gunshot went off and hit Andrew in the ear. It must have been Carley. "AH! Dammit!" Andrew exclaimed as he released Duck from his grip to soothe his shot-off ear.
Duck ran from the man as Zach took his chance and rushed towards him. Andrew noticed Zach's advances and quickly aimed the rifle. Thankfully, Zach latched onto the rifle and pushed it away from him when it was fired. It came down to who could muscle the rifle from whom. Zach soon overpowered Andrew and used the rifle to beat the man's head before they both lost their balance and fell down the hill. The rifle slipped out of their grasp on the way down as both men continued to fall down the hill. They both smashed into the fence and finally came to a stop on the flat ground.
Zach struggled to get up as his body had gone without food for far too long. He received a kick which made him yell in pain. He fell on his back as his opponent Andrew left. Zach groaned as he got back up and looked to Andrew who started up the electric fence. Both men huffed as they raised their fists to fight one another. "I'm going to kill you!" Andrew exclaimed as he rushed towards Zach and threw a punch his way.
Zach's marine training kicked in and he ducked underneath the punch. He quickly grabbed Andrew's arm and flung him over his shoulder and into the ground. Andrew yelped upon hitting the ground, but he quickly reoriented himself and tried to get free, but to no avail. Zach held his arm in place and used it so that Andrew was face down. "Give up!" Zach said. "You've lost!"
"Never!" Andrew exclaimed.
"Fine then." Zach said and he bent back Andrew's arm until there was a loud crack.
"AAHHHH….!" Andrew cried out. "My arm! You broke my f****** arm!" He huffed as Zach released his grip from the man's arm.
Zach looked up to see his group watching him; they were all looking to the marine and were wondering if he was going to kill Andrew. Zach looked down to the man on the ground and said, "It's over."
Zach proceeded to walk away as Andrew huffed heavily from the pain of his broken limb "Is that all you got Zach?" Andrew asked. "You ain't… shit." He used his good arm to get off the ground and tried to attack Zach, but the marine turned around and blocked the punch that was heading his way. He then punched Andrew back and allowed him to fall to the ground.
"I said, it's over! Just walk away!" Zach exclaimed. He turned away from Andrew and continued to walk toward his group.
Andrew struggled to get up and yelled, "Don't you dare walk away from me, Zach! Get back here and finish this, Zach!" However, the marine ignored the dairy farmer and walked up to the group.
"Let's go." Zach said as he led the way to the gate. He could hear the sounds of the walkers coming in from all sides. The fence must be failing which means the farm will be overran in a few minutes.
"Zach…!" Andrew exclaimed in the background. Zach continued to ignore him as he tried to put the nightmare of the dairy behind him, but that would be impossible. What happened today would haunt him for as long as he lived. It was the most desperate thing he had ever seen. "Zach…!" Andrew's voice faded away as the group walked further away from the dairy. Finally, Zach couldn't hear Andrew's cries anymore.
The walk back to the motor inn was quiet and solemn for the group. Zach looked back to see that Clementine and Natalie were both very quiet and reserved. Doug and Carley came up to Zach and said, "Hey Zach, I'd say I'm sorry that we left the motor inn unprotected, but…" Carley said.
"I'm glad you showed up when you did." Zach said as he looked forward again. "If you hadn't taken that shot of Andy. We might not have made it out of there"
"Were the really eating people for food?" Doug asked with a hint of fear in his voice.
"Yeah and Clementine almost ate some." Zach responded.
"But…?" Carley asked.
"I stopped her." Zach said. "This world is such a mess. I can't leave her alone even for a second. It's just hiding unspeakable shit at every turn."
"Katjaa says that this was with your stuff." Doug said as he handed a camcorder to him.
"Yeah, it was in a camp where this woman was trying to survive." Zach said. Doug and Carley looked to Zach with an intrigued look as a suggestion to keep going with the story. "Danny killed her, but maybe we can get some answers on this thing." Zach said.
"Sounds good to me." Doug said as he extended his hand out. "I'll see if I can get it working."
Zach nodded and gave the device to Doug. "Thanks Doug." Doug nodded in response as he looked over the camcorder. Zach looked over to Kenny and noticed that he was struggling to keep up and was leaning over. "I better go check on Ken." Zach said.
"Sounds like a plan." Carley said.
Zach approached the family and went toward Kenny as Katjaa stood by. She looked to her husband with worried eyes and asked, "How are you feeling?"
"I'll be alright." Kenny said. He turned to Duck with a grin on his face and said, "I'm just not as young as I used to be." Kenny looked up to see Zach approaching him and he turned to Katjaa and Duck. "Hon, why don't you let me and Zach have a minute to talk."
Katjaa obliged and she led Duck away as Zach stood in front of Kenny. "How are you holding up?" Zach asked.
"I've been better, but I've been through worse." Kenny said. The two became rather silent until Kenny sighed and said, "Zach, I need you to come with me and my family. After today, you should know just how strong we are together. We can make this whole thing work."
Zach looked to Kenny and said, "Alright… We got to stick together."
"Exactly. We're a team, pal." Kenny said as he extended his hand out for a handshake. Zach smiled to Kenny and shook his hand. Kenny grunted in pain as he released his hand from the handshake and he said, "I'll chat with you later. The faster Natalie takes a look at this wound, the better."
"Alright, man." Zach said as Kenny passed by him.
Zach looked over to see Clementine and Natalie walking up to him. "How are you two holding up?"
"It's been a very long day, but I'm thankful to be alive." Natalie said.
Zach smiled to the woman before they both looked down to the child. "Clementine?" Zach said to the young girl.
Clementine looked up with a serious and curious look. "Zach, are those bad people dead?" Clementine asked.
Zach pondered for the correct response for a couple of seconds before he said, "We didn't kill them, and maybe they got away from the walkers, but either way, they know that they shouldn't come back and try to hurt us."
Clementine smiled at his response and said, "That's good." She was satisfied that the group didn't have a hand in killing the St. John, but at the same time, she was relieved that they wouldn't come after the group. Zach knew that it was a lie. More than likely all three of the St. Johns were dead, but Clementine didn't need to know that. He would do everything he could to guard her innocence.
"Dad, what's that noise?" Duck asked as the sound of a loud beeping could be heard. It sounded like a car alarm.
"It sounds like a car." Kenny said.
"Oh no, not more strangers," Ben said as Zach passed by both and went toward the source of the beeping.
Zach noticed some sort of light up ahead and he squatted down. He approached the light which was revealed to be a car with its passenger's and probably driver's door open. Zach slowly approached the door and looked inside. He saw the keys in the ignition and saw the gas gauge was low. "That's what I figured," Zach said as he turned the vehicle off and pocketed the keys. However, he did hear a light gasp from the back seat. He turned his head but was unable to see anything and climbed out of the vehicle.
"What's up?" Doug asked.
"I heard a gasp from the back of the vehicle." Zach replied. He walked over to the back seat and his eyes widened. It was that girl! It was Jolene's daughter! Her eyes were puffy, and they read fear. He whole body shook underneath a blanket as Zach opened the door and slowly sat down on the back seat. He didn't want to frighten her, so he tried to speak to her first. "Are you okay?" Zach asked. The girl merely shook her head and started to sob into the blanket. "It's okay…" Zach said as he raised his hand out to the girl, but she quickly backed away.
Zach couldn't get anywhere near her. He retracted his hand and asked, "We have some nice people with us. Can you come with us?"
The girl immediately shook her head and went back to staring aimlessly at the seat. Zach knew that she wasn't that old. She appeared to be Clementine's age, maybe a little older. There was no way that she would survive.
"Zach, let me try." Carley said. Zach nodded and allowed the markswoman to take over. She got into the seat that Zach was in earlier and she said, "Hi sweetie. My name's Carley. What's yours?" Carley actually had a kind and soothing voice. It was motherly and very surprising to hear from the markswoman.
The girl looked up to Carley with intrigue as the woman looked to her with kind eyes. The child grew curious and started to get up. She shakily made her way to Carley and got a closer look at her. Carley noticed the child's shaky steps and brought the girl up on her lap so that the girl wouldn't have to stand on her wobbly legs. Whatever happened to the girl had traumatized her. "Can you tell me your name?" Carley asked as the group watched on patiently. They had to try and save the girl.
"D…D-Dan…Danielle…" The girl stuttered out.
"Danielle?" Carley asked. The girl nodded as Carley gave her a warm smile. "That's a very pretty name for such a pretty little girl." Carley said as she wrapped her arms around the girl in a hug.
Danielle accepted the warmth and comfort from the hug as she started to whimper again. "I want mommy… I want mommy."
"It's okay honey. We'll do our best to find your mommy." Carley said in a comforting tone of voice.
"Oh shit!" Kenny exclaimed. "Baby, you got to see this. There's a shit load of food and supplies back here." The majority of the group made its way toward the abandoned car as Carley continued to try and soothe Danielle. Doug went around and to pick up the blanket for Danielle since she was wearing a short sleeve shirt, a skirt, tights, and flats, and the cool air was dipping into the forties.
Katjaa took a look and said, "This food can save all of us!"
Doug returned to Carley and Danielle and place the blanket around Danielle. At first, the girl stiffened from the man's contact but she immediately relaxed when he backed away.
Carley noticed that the girl shuttered and said, "It's okay. Dougie's a nice man. He wouldn't hurt a fly. He's a nice man." Danielle nodded and looked to Doug. He smiled to the girl as she returned the smile.
"Look we don't know if these people are dead." Ben said not wanting to get involved in taking the supplies.
"If we just take this stuff, we would just be monsters that came out of the woods and ruined their lives." Lilly said.
"This stuff isn't ours." Clementine added in.
"Dad whose car is it?" Duck asked.
"It doesn't matter, it's ours now." Kenny replied.
"It's abandoned Ducky. Don't worry." Katjaa said.
"But what if it's not," Clementine said. Most of the group members turned to the child as she continued, "What if it's not abandoned? What if it is someone's?"
Zach approached Clementine and said, "Clem's right. We can't just ruin someone else's life. We'll do without the supplies." Clementine smiled to Zach with a thankful stare for taking her side.
"What? Did you too get a little something to eat back there where the rest of us didn't? We'll die without this stuff." Kenny said.
"We'll do without." Zach said.
"I agree. I don't feel comfortable about taking any of that stuff." Natalie said.
"Do whatever you want; the rest of us are taking this stuff." Kenny said and he held his hand out for the keys. Zach hesitantly obliged and gave the keys to Kenny.
Kenny walked over to the trunk and opened it. He gathered some of the supplies and handed them off to members who were willing to steal from the car.
Zach, Natalie, and Clementine stood away from the group and watched them pick the car clean. Afterwards, they left the car with its looted supplies in hand. Doug walked up to the trio and said, "Zach, I got that camcorder working. You're not going to believe this." He handed the camcorder to Zach as Zach looked over to Danielle and Carley.
"You won't believe what I'm about to tell you." Zach said.
"What is it?" Doug asked.
"That girl is Jolene's daughter." Zach said.
"Are you sure?" Doug asked.
Zach nodded and said, "I don't forget a face. That girl is the same child in the picture that I found." Doug and Zach looked over to the traumatized girl that Carley had successfully managed to get out of the vehicle and was now carrying.
The two men looked back to each other and Doug asked, "What are we going to do?"
"I'm going to go back into her camp and get some of her possessions tomorrow along with her mother's body." Zach said.
"Zach, you can't she's already on the edge as we speak." Doug said. "Bringing her dead mom back would… devastate her… It might push her over the edge."
"We can't just keep lying to her." Natalie said. "But I think we should wait a little while. It might be too much for her."
"Okay." Zach said. He looked back to his camcorder and said, "Well, let's see what we got." He pressed play and was surprised to see its contents. It was Jolene. She was spying on their camp… As the video progressed, Zach, Natalie, and Doug were surprised to see the Save Lots bandits appear. They now knew where the group was… that meant that the motor inn was a deathtrap.
The video ended and Zach looked to his two friends. "We don't have much time. Those bandits know where we're at." Zach said. "And now that we have Danielle with us…"
"…They'll have two reasons to come after us." Natalie said.
"We can't just let them take her. She's been put through enough." Doug said.
Zach turned to Doug and said, "Danielle's a part of this group now. If those bandits want her, then they'll have to take her by force. I don't care if I have to kill each and every one of them… they won't take anyone from this group. Not as long as I'm still breathing. And I don't die easily."
Doug nodded with an appreciative smile. He was happy to see that Zach was willing to keep Danielle safe despite how new she was to the group. Doug turned to the retreating group and then back to Zach. "We should catch up to the group." Doug said.
"Yeah, come on. Let's go." Zach said. "These woods aren't safe anymore." He led Natalie, Doug, and Clementine as they walked over to catch up with the main group. Eventually, they made their way to the motor inn.
…To be continued.
A/N: Yup. Good ole Dani's in this. Man, she is everywhere in my Fics.