Chapter 26- Troubles & Burdens
"I'm free... holy crap I'm FREE!" Jacob cheered as he realised he could stretch his arms out fully without making contact with a walker. He looked around quickly to notice individual walkers stray from the herd and stare towards him with milky white eyes, mouths open, hungry for nothing but a bite of Jacob tasting flesh.
"Crap." Jacob muttered to himself, realising how pathetic he had just been.
Jacob drew his hunting knife from his belt once again and plunged straight on top of a female walker, driving his bloodied blade into the hard skull, grimacing as it cracked open, squirting thick blood and yelping out twisted and high pitched gurgles and groans. Already, taking out that one walker was enough for Jacob. He stood back up, muttered another "crap." before dashing towards the forest trees, at least for some temporary cover until the rest of the group turn up. Speaking of the rest of the group... where are they? Jacob thought as he stood beside a large tree, looking around longingly for his friends, ignoring the occasional walkers stumbling toward him, blind eyes still surprisingly fixed on Jacob.
Stupid fuckers, can't give me a bloody moments worth of damn peace! Jacob thought to himself as he slowly backed away from the oncoming walkers. there was only three of them who escaped the herd to come follow him, but in no time, Jacob would be able to run again... walkers forgotten, as they sadly limp around, longing for the Jacob tasting flesh.
Unfortunately, Jacob couldn't crack anymore witty jokes inside his head, nor look out for his friends who should be escaping the herd by now...
It was the sound of light footsteps against frost coated hardened mud that made Jacob turn around.
She had a fierce grin, eyes shining and reflecting the colour of the rough tree trunks.
It was then that Jacob's world of awareness was forcefully thrown into a blackened chasm of pure darkness...
He was running out of things to think about. Good things like memories. Anything to get his mind off of the situation he was currently in.
A herd... a herd of people, dead people.
Seth couldn't believe himself. A herd? He was actually doing this?!
It felt good walking slowly beside Luke. He felt safe, surrounded and guarded by one man amongst the hundreds of decaying but walking bodies.
At times, well actually most of the time it went silent for Luke and him. It made sense... dying would happen quite quickly if they were to chat amongst the sea of nothing but easy death. But when it went silent, Seth felt his anxiety build up, his heart beating in his ears, his cold fingers trembling as they cry in jealously of his hands. Disadvantages of fingerless gloves, eh?
In order to wash these distractions away, Seth would have to pile on more distractions and shunt out the bad ones. He thought back to his brother but that only made him feel worse. He thought back to his parents, but that only made him feel worse...
Couldn't he just think of the people he loved without going on the painful guilt trip?! Was it that hard?!
Instead, he settled with chess club...
Yes, the good old chess club. Got teased and mocked for, yes.. but learnt practical skills in the world of chess playing, yes!
Seth felt himself becoming more of a Jacob when it came to thinking... maybe it was good to be positive, even in the worst of situations.
But like normal... as usual, something bad had to happen coincidentally.
"Oh my god... shit!" Luke muttered, trying his best not to cry out as he bent down slowly while Seth watched intently, curious but dreading what was to come.
"Wha-what is it?" Seth mumbled quietly, his voice shaking as it felt like more walkers seem to close in on him when he stands still.
Luke said nothing; probably for the best, but he stood back up, slowly just as before and held something up for Seth to recognise.
"Tha-that's not..." Seth tried to say as his eyes widened in recognition but Luke cut in, telling him the hard truth.
"It is." Luke simply said. His face dropped, his eyes watered but he didn't cry. He had to get out, him and Seth had to get out and get to safety.
In a blood stained hand, Luke gripped firmly onto Clementine's hat. He didn't look at it anymore, he didn't want too... but Seth did.
She can't be dead... Seth thought. He knew how tough Clem was, she can't of just died.
"Luke, she's not dead... I promise she's not." Seth whispered, getting closer to Luke so that he could hear.
Luke bit his lip. He knew Clem, he knew how strong she was... he knew she wasn't dead, but right now all he could think about was getting out.
"C'mon, lets go..." Luke replied quietly, looking ahead as he slowly started moving on forwards, Seth trailing behind.
Seth obliged. But in his heart he knew that Luke hadn't lost faith, he wasn't that kind of man...
With a nod of the head, Seth was back to walking. He was worried about Clem, Imogen and Jacob but no wasn't the time to fret. He had to breath in and breath out, thinking about nothing but a good game of chess. (If he remembered how to play that is...)
"I can't believe we're leaving them..." Clem continuously muttered to herself as she practically jogged deeper and deeper into the maze-like forest. Imogen was by her side, most probably silently thinking the same thoughts as Clem. They had left Luke, Seth and Jacob. It was the right and wrong thing to do, but what was to be expected? They planned on meeting at the end of the herd but was it safe to stay any longer? Would the two just be waiting for three guys who could've already been eaten in the herd? No. Clem couldn't think like that, especially when she has Luke, or should she say, had Luke. Eventually they would all meet again, but was venturing further away going to help anything? So many questions but none could be answered accurately...
Clem had forgotten her hat. Leaving behind what was left of her parents, what was left of Lee and her entire childhood was painful. And yes, that hat wasn't her's exactly but she liked it, favoured it over most items and possessions in her parents household. But what was Clem loosing? Her parents, Lee and her childhood died long ago, that hat was just a distant memory. She was so close to it but yet so far. It was on her head minutes ago, it is lost minutes away but it felt like miles and it felt like years since she had worn the damn thing. All this time, Clem never knew how attached she could be to a belonging, a hat.
But troubles were troubles and troubles were burdens...
Clem had to move on, mentally and physically.
She couldn't forgive herself for leaving Luke and the others, but she had Imogen. Together they will survive, and together they will find their way back to the others. Even if that didn't mean now...