Hey guys, I am still going strong, no intention of leaving this story. There is still so much I want to do, and It has been a pleasure to have all your guys' help along the way. So, keep reading, review, and enjoy! (TellTale owns TWDG)

Chapter 21

"One thing we know for certain is: the Liberators are coming. The question is whether or not we have the soul to stop them." The chief stated. "They will come with more people, more guns, and they will kill everyone except for those who pledge allegiance to them, so they can continue to get supplies from us. It is a vicious cycle."

"We could strike now. They won't expect us at all. We get the jump, and we take them out. They'll never know what hit them." Ryan stated. The once-lawyer seemed to want blood now, but I could understand. He wanted to protect his home.

"We are not ready for an attack." Chief slightly nodded his head towards Heather, who sat unmoving.

"Why the hell did you call us in here if not for advice?" Ryan inquired.

"I needed to know what you planned to do."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I know things, Noah. And I am not stupid. I have ideas, and I have a general one now. You plan to leave, right. Just up and go with your posse, leave this community to die, right?" No one answered him. I looked down. Javier spoke then.

"We were thinking of options to keep each other safe, to make sure everyone was ok, and and option in case we needed to leave, yes. Just in case." The chief looked at us. Then he sighed. "People, God! I mean, come on! We, the LakeWood community, have given you home, shelter, supplies, food, medical care, and you want to abandon us!"

"Hey! Let's not forget you were the one who was disappointed that Krishan and Randy saved my group and brought them back here." I pointed out. "And now you want our help. Seems a little hypocritical of you, chief." He was visibly angered by my comment, but he didn't let it show. I was just good at reading people, I guess.

"Well, that may have been a mistake on my part," he said at last.

"Yeah, maybe it was. And-"

"Wait, hold it. Noah, before you say another thing, I need to speak." Ryan spoke up. He paused, and seemed a little hesitant before he spoke. But when he spoke, he did so with calm firmness. "I do not want to be associated with your 'group' anymore," He said using air quotations. "I want to stay, protect my home. My only real connection here is you, Noah, and I feel like it is my duty to stay and protect the people who gave me a place in this hellish world." I was stunned by his sudden outburst, but I understood him perfectly. I nodded, then Javier did. He was out. Ryan walked over to behind where the chief stood. In our little group now, there were only 6.

"He has the idea down. You all should follow him." He waited for a few counts. "Dismissed."

"Well that was short and painless, I guess." Clementine pointed out as the six of us walked back towards the infirmary. Heather trailed behind us glumly. We got back around 9 pm. The sun had just set, and the nightly autumn breezes comforted us as we walked back into the infirmary.

"So, what's the plan now? All we did was anger the chief, and lose Ryan." Gabe said. Everyone remained silent.

"Well, the Liberators are probably coming tomorrow, and they will have their battle. It still comes down to that question. Protect our home with great risk or leave with ourselves and face great risk. Shit is going to happen either way." Javier mentored.

"I say we need to make a collective decision tonight. To leave or to stay." Krishan motioned.

"I agree," said Gabe and Clementine almost simultaneously. I nodded my head. The six of us sat there, waiting for someone to call it.

"So, who wants to stay?" Javier finally asked. Gabe, Heather and Javier raised their hands. Fuck. Krishan, Clementine and I wanted to go. It was an even split. Fucking fuck shit cuntwad dicking jizzstain. Ah this is fucking perfect. Shit. (I apologize for my outburst, but we were in a pretty fucked situation). I didn't know what to do. Three people were split with three people. It just… ughghg.

"Well… this is awkward." Gabe mentioned. Ladie fucking da.

"Damnit… well? What do we do."

"I hate to mention it, but, we say bye?" Gabe questioned.

"That's fucking stupid, Gabe. Just the three of us, two wounded, we'd die. We'll die here anyways, when the Liberators come." Krishan said calmly. He lowered his head. "Guys, we have to stick together, we can't leave each other."

"Well, the three of us don't want to leave, but you three do," Javier pointed out. "So, we have an issue." I ran my fingers through my hair.

"Fuck. Man-" My voice cracked. "I - We can't leave each other though. Come with us. We'll all die here, or we can all maybe live out there."

"You don't know that for certain," Javier pointed out.

"Sure, but listen. People are the real threat. And we're going to have over a shit ton of seriously pissed off people headed our way, probably as we speak. Walkers, we all know we can handle. People are… people are different, more unpredictable." The word rolled off my tongue weird. I could see Clementine glance at me through the corner of my eye. I blinked hard, and continued. "But the three of us can't do it alone. We need you guys. Let's do it tonight. Just snatch some supplies and go to D.C, like we planned. Come on! We can do it, the 6 of us. We've been through more than most, and we together are strong enough to do it. But we need all of us to do it. And the chief can't know. We sneak supplies, and then we are out tonight. We gone. We'll be out there, away from here. Away from the untrustworthy leader and government, and away from the oppressive, bloodthirsty regime of the Liberators." (Nice word choice, am I right?)

"Why would you want to stay? We have a chance to live if we go. So let's do that." The other three of them looked at me.

"He's right." Heather spoke up for the first time in a while. Everyone's heads turned towards her. "He is. We should go while we still can." Finally, Javier and Gabe nodded. It was settled. Oh thank fucking God. I exhaled a visible sigh of relief.

"So how do we pull it off?" Gabe asked.

"Well, at midnight, we sneak out of dorms and meet Clementine here, I guess. Then the six of us each have a mission. We each get a certain something we need, and all of it you can find, then meet back here at around 1 o'clock am. Then we jump a gate. And slip north. Leave as if nothing ever happened." I addressed the plan with confidence. My arm would be an inhibitor in the jumping process, but I would figure that out later. We all had a job to do. We were breaking out tonight.

My task was grabbing weapons, but before that, let me just say that getting an hour of sleep before breaking out is not the best plan. I could hardly contain my excitement mixed in with my fear, so I laid awake for two hours. When I finally drifted off, my mental alarms woke me right back up and hour later, and I was exhausted. It sucked. But I had to push through that. I needed to get weapons. My two pistols, knife and Bor sat comfortably in my room, so I equipped myself, then started out on grabbing other things. I already knew Clementine had her Bowie knife and her 9mm, and Javier, Gabe and Heather all carried either 22s, 38s, or 9mms. I would probably also need to grab some 556. I was running through what we needed. I needed ammo, and I could preferably get a few more guns, maybe one for Krishan, only armed with his hatchet.

Luckily, I knew where everything I needed was stored. A little shack on the north-east wall. I snuck all the way across the complex, and, with swift cracking lock abilities, I broke in.

I was greeted by glistening guns, tons of ammunition, and stacks of other weapons. There was even a flamethrower and a chainsaw. Using an old duffel bag, I quickly started piling ammunition into the box. I grabbed maybe six extra handguns and two rifles, a Mossberg 500 shotgun, and two AR-15's just in case. I also piled plenty of extra magazines in. Two autoloaders just in case.

Then I bolted. My arm didn't help, but I managed to clamber back to Clementine's room with the duffel. Javier and Gabe, who got food and clothes, were already there. Heather was there too, she wasn't responsible for grabbing anything. Clementine was there too, obviously, since she prepped the medical supplies. Krishan was the only person we were waiting on. Ugh, where is he?

Suddenly, he burst through the door, carrying exactly what he was supposed to. Miscellaneous materials and water purifiers. "Go, the guards are here. Let's go. I heard them talking, they don't hesitate to shoot. Let's move." He rasped.

Everyone was alert as we snuck out. We were silent. The only noise was the soft padding of our feet. Quiet. Quiet. Then a bullet embedded itself on the concrete right between my feet.

"RUN!" I yelled. And we booked it. Silenced gunshots and bullets impaled the grounds and walls next to us. We ran towards the west gate. It was small, but we had planned this gate specifically. We knew how to jump it.

I ran, my duffel slamming against my back as we pounded our legs. Everyone was keeping pace, darting quickly towards the gate. But we were too slow. The guards were just behind us. Heather and Krishan just reached over the gate, and Gabe was halfway up when the guards started firing. There was no time to waste, they were right on top of us. I yanked out my P22 and fired three round into the chest of one guard. The other turned and fired at me, but it glanced off the wall. Clementine was over the wall now, and it was just Javier and I. We both ran, Javier firing his gun at the guards as well. I slammed my gun back into it's holster and started climbing. Bullets clanged into the gate around me, but I persisted. I reached the top, and one took a crackshot at me. It hit.

The force knocked me right off the edge of the gate. I landed right on my duffel bag. My head snapped into the bag, and my legs on the other side. My back lit up with fire. The bullet had bounced right off my cast. I managed to pull myself up, even though my back hurt so bad, then Javier jumped down. We were out. And we were on the run again.

A rush of relief burned over my pained back. But, in the distance waved uncertainty. My stomach rumbled while my brain rejoiced. It was a slosh of emotions in my chest. I closed my eyes and we ran harder.