Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. All rights reserved to their respective owners.
Both Danielle and Clementine were given a small box of animal crackers for supper. It was the most Bud could do for them before he left. There wasn't much food left in the motor inn.
After they ate, the girls went ahead and played with some of the toys that were scattered around the motor inn. However, that soon turned into playing tag. They laughed and squealed as one ran from the other. "They're cute." Lee said with a chuckle as he watched them. He and Vince were picking up the coloring books and crayon because of the approaching storm.
"Yeah they are…" Vince said with a smile. He looked up and he said, "I doubt they're going to like this storm."
"You got a point there." Lee said. "Clem hates storms."
"I doubt Dani's any better." Vince said.
After they had picked up the remaining coloring books and crayons, they took the items to Lee's room. They kept in a neat pile near the door for when the storm passed by.
"Hey." Carley said from the doorway. Both men stood upright and looked to her. "Listen… those guys aren't back yet… I'm going out there to see what the problem is. Wyatt and Ben are coming with me."
"Okay… Lee… you've taken care of a baby longer than I have. I'll let you take care of the girls while I'll do watch." Vince said.
Lee nodded in response. He knew that he would have his work cut out for him. Even with both toddlers being exhausted and very mature for their ages, he would still have to put them to sleep.
"Alright… we'll be back as quick as we can." Carley said. She left the room and the two men went outside. They saw Ben and Wyatt at the gate. They were ready to head out.
"Where they going?" Clementine asked. The two men looked down to her and Danielle. The toddlers were looking at them with curious glances.
"Don't worry. They'll be back. They're going out to the farm to go check on the others." Lee said.
"Is everyone otay?" Clementine asked.
"We think. They're just going down to make sure." Vince said.
"You two don't have to worry about it. They'll be back. As for now… I think it's bed time." Lee said.
"We stay up a little longer?" Clementine asked.
"Nope. You had a long day, and that storm's almost on top of us." Vince said.
"Yeah… storm bad." Danielle said with a frown.
"Yes it is. Storm can be very bad, but we'll be alright." Vince said. "And… well… with everyone out there, I'll have to go on watch which means Lee will have to take care of you for the rest of the evening, Dani."
Danielle shook her head and she said, "You take care of me."
"I can't honey… Someone's got to take watch. Don't worry. Lee has been taking care of Clementine for three months now. He knows what he's doing." Vince said.
Danielle pouted in response. Lee looked to Vince and he said, "She likes you."
"Yeah… I guess so." Vince said.
Lee leaned over and picked up the two toddlers. He had one on each hip. "Well… good luck." Vince said.
"You too." Lee said.
They turned and went in opposite ways of each other. Vince went on watch while Lee would have the task of putting two toddlers to bed at the same time.
Lee went into the room and thunder roared from outside. The girls tensed up and squealed in horror. Lee shushed them and he said, "It's okay… It sounds scary, but it won't hurt you." Lee said as he set the girls down on the bed
"I'm going to do some things really quick before we read a bed time story." Lee said to the girls. The two toddlers nodded but it was obvious that they were scared.
Lee went over and lit the candle in his room. He then grabbed a baby book and a couple of pacifiers. One was new. The new one would be for Danielle. Lee set the baby book on the bed and placed the pacifiers in the girls' mouths. Lee then changed them into their pajamas which were two of Clementine's pajamas.
He sat on the bed and picked up the girls so that they were sitting on his lap. He grabbed the baby book and he said, "Okay, let's read this one." He opened up the book and started to read the book. As he read, the thunder did crash a couple of times from outside, but aside from Danielle jumping a bit, neither girl cried too much. It definitely helped that Lee was holding them and the pacifiers were there to comfort them.
Once Lee had finished reading to them, both girls were leaning on him. They were on the verge of falling asleep. Lee set the book down and placed Clementine on the bed in order to put them in the crib. It would require both arms, and Clementine was easier to deal with if she got upset. Lee placed Danielle in the crib before he went over and picked up Clementine. He then placed her in the crib. "Good night Danielle. Good night Clementine. You two sleep well and don't fight with one another." The girls were only half listening as he tucked them in. Of course, Lee figured that they would be best friends considering their circumstances and how they had gotten along today. Soon enough, they were asleep.
Lee went over and started to read out of his book until he heard the dumpsters from outside. He looked up to see that the group had returned. Lee got up and went outside. The thunder and rain had passed. Lee walked over to the group. He was surprised to see them with somber looks. "Is everything alright? Where'd you get all that stuff?" Lee asked.
"Why do you care?" Lilly snapped as she shoved him and went to her room.
"What's your deal?" Lee inquired.
"F*** off." Lilly spat.
"Don't give that bitch any attention. She's been in a pouty mood since her dad died." Kenny said.
Lee looked around and he said, "Where's Larry and Mark?"
"Dead…" Kenny said. "We would have joined them if Bud hadn't stepped up and Carley, Wy, and the kid didn't show up."
"What happened over there?" Lee asked.
Bud sighed and he said, "A lot…"
"I'm all ears." Lee said.
Bud looked to Lee for a few seconds until he said, "You were right in keeping the girls here. Those St Johns were cannibals."
Lee's eyes widened and he said, "Holy shit…"
"Yeah… Mark and I went out and checked their fence, but we ended up getting attacked by the bandits. They shot arrows at us… One of them got Mark in the shoulder. We somehow got out of that and they promised that they would help him…" Bud explained.
"A promise that they didn't keep. Those sick f**** fed him to us." Kenny spat. "When Bud found out about it, they took us hostage and threw us in the cooler."
"Larry had a heart attack… There was nothing we could do for him." Bud said.
"That was the one benefit of that trip." Justin said.
"How could you say that?" Katjaa asked with horror in her voice.
"Because it's the truth. His death was a long time coming. I don't feel sympathy towards him. I'm glad he's gone. What did he ever do? He beat up Lee, treated him and Vince like shit, and he snapped at everyone." Justin said. "We'll move on easily from his ass."
"Do you have any respect for him now that he's gone?" Katjaa exclaimed.
"Calm down, hon." Kenny said.
"No! Look, I understand that Larry was hard to deal with… but you have no right in criticizing him like that." Katjaa said.
"I don't care. I'm just glad he's gone. We'll do much better without him… well most of us anyway…" Justin said.
"Damn dude… That's cold…" Wyatt said.
"Please… I'm just saying what we're all thinking." Justin said.
Katjaa shook her head and stormed off from the group. Duck followed her. "She'll get over it… We're all a little emotional after losing some folks." Kenny said in an uncaring tone of voice. He didn't care about Larry dying either.
"Where'd you get all of this stuff?" Lee asked.
"Some Volkswagen when we were coming back." Kenny explained.
"I still didn't want to take it since whoever owned it could still be alive and have kids, but…" Bud said; however, he trailed off.
"Hey… we left half of it behind. More than what we should have…" Kenny said with a tang of anger in his voice. He and some of the other group members started to haul the supplies to the storage room.
"It was the least we could do." Bud said.
Lee turned his head when he saw Justin walk away from the group.
Vince approached him and Justin said, "Thank you, Vince."
"So… your mind's made up?" Vince asked.
Justin nodded and he said, "Yeah…"
Vince huffed before he said, "Good luck out there."
Justin smiled and he said, "Thanks… I'm going to be taking off tomorrow morning." He walked over to his room. Lee knew that it was going to be the last night that he would stay in it.
Vince walked up to Lee and he said, "Hard saying goodbye to him. Didn't think that it would end like this."
"Yeah… you going to be alright?" Lee said.
"I'll have to be. I got a little girl to look after… Speaking of which… Won't mind if I bunk in the same room as you for a while?" Vince said.
"I don't mind. I think it's a good thing that you're becoming a father figure to her." Lee said.
"Yeah… Call me soft-hearted. She's a good little baby…" Vince said with a smirk.
"I know the feeling." Lee said. "Let's help them get that stuff over to storage so we can get some rest."
"Sounds good." Vince said. The two men walked over and helped Bud, Wyatt, Kenny, Carley, and Ben get the supplies in one of the rooms. It was designated as a storage room. "Alright… that's good…" Bud said as he closed the door to the storage room.
"Well… who's got watch?" Vince said. "I can do it if you need me to."
"Nah… Ken and I will do it. I don't think we're going to get much sleep tonight." Bud said.
"Can't say I blame you." Wyatt said. "That was one f***** up situation."
"Yeah… but we learned from it. From now on… we have to be weary of strangers." Bud said. "Otherwise, Mark's sacrifice was in vain."
"Agreed." Lee said.
"Damn straight." Kenny added.
"Alright… get some shut-eye… we have a lot of work to do tomorrow." Bud said. The group dispersed with Bud taking watch and the group members turning in for the night. Kenny got what rest he could before he took over on Bud's watch.
One Week Later
Lee and Kenny went through the desolated streets of Macon. They had to maneuver around abandoned cars and debris from the buildings. They were in Macon again to get food, medicine, and other supplies from the pharmacy. Lee walked out into the middle of the central street with the hunting rifle in hand.
The street was empty. There were no walkers in sight. "Looks like today's our lucky day." Kenny said as he walked up to Lee.
"Yeah… things might actually go smoothly for once." Lee said.
"We deserve it after last time." Kenny said. They walked down the street toward the pharmacy. Lee looked around to make sure that there weren't any walkers approaching them. "So… Lee… what's your decision on leaving or staying. I doubt your buddy, Justin, is going to come back at all."
Lee shook his head and he said, "As much as I hate to say it, we're going to have to leave. Those bandits have been attacking us non-stop and we're almost out of supplies." Lee said. "I hate to do that since the motor inn lets me teach Clementine. I've been teaching her how count and how to say complete sentences."
"Glad to hear you're on board. I know we haven't had the best of history, but I'm glad that you and Bud are willing to come." Kenny said in a more satisfied tone.
"Who's all willing to go?" Lee asked.
"Everyone but Lilly." Kenny muttered. "Figures that she would be difficult…"
"She lost her dad… Still… it's getting dangerous. I understand that she needs to mourn, but for crying out loud, it's putting us in danger. I'm surprised that those bandits haven't attacked us recently or gotten anyone killed." Lee said.
"Exactly. We need to up and go before they decide that they're done toying with us." Kenny said.
"Yeah… You got a point." Lee said. They reached the ladder to the semi-truck trailer. The truck blocked off the rest of the street, so both men have climbed over it in the past and get inside through the back entrance.
"Alright, over the rig and into the pharmacy. We'll grab everything we can." Kenny said.
"We didn't leave much in there." Lee said.
"Well we're out of options. Something's better than nothing." Kenny said. He turned and climbed up the ladder. Lee took look-out again and he looked around for any walkers. "Shit…" Kenny muttered.
Lee looked back over to Kenny and he asked, "You alright?"
"The ladder broke. I don't know how many trips she's got left in her." Kenny said as he looked to the ladder. It had broken off from the trailer.
"Looks like it's done." Lee said as he walked up to it. He pulled on it which was enough for it to break off. The ladder fell to the ground and Lee shook his head.
"What now?" Kenny asked.
"I'll find another way up there." Lee said. He looked around the destroyed town until he noticed a nearby jeep with a winch attached to it. He took hold of the hook and started to pull it toward the semi-truck trailer.
"I guess this'll be our last trip here. Personally, I want to leave Macon tomorrow." Kenny said.
"That sounds good." Lee said. "It'll give us enough time to gather up essential supplies." He attached the hook to the axle of the trailer. He walked back over to the jeep and turned on the winch. The device dragged the jeep forward as Lee walked alongside it.
"Duck was asking about that guy at the dairy last night." Kenny said.
"I didn't think it phased him. Happened a while ago." Lee said.
"That doesn't matter… I guess he's still been thinking about what happened." Kenny said.
"It was a scary situation with Shawn dying…" Lee said as the winch dragged the jeep into the semi-truck trailer.
"I'm just worried that he'll always think that it was his fault." Kenny said.
"Well… it's not… That was a tough situation." Lee said as he got on top of the jeep.
Kenny leaned over and extended his hand out to Lee. "You sure you're up for this?" Lee asked.
"Come on, Lee. I'm fine. Just give me your hand." Kenny said.
Lee shrugged and jumped up to grab Kenny's hand. Kenny groaned as he got Lee up onto the semi-truck trailer. "Shit…" Kenny muttered as he gripped his side.
"You okay?" Lee asked.
"What do you think? I'm shot… I haven't been okay for the last few-" Kenny said but he was interrupted when a loud scream pierced through the dead town.
…To be continued.