Clementine:
As soon as they had walked outside, Walter began talking, "Hey, listen, I'm sorry about that. Kenny... he lets his temper get the best of him a lot. I know the situation you're in right now. I used to be a teacher, and you're stuck in the middle of two cliques. I know it looks like they'll never get along, but they'll find common ground soon enough." Walter bent down next to her. "I know things look rough now, but thats why it falls to us to bring them together." He stood up straight again, and started walking alongside the outer wall of the building. Clementine followed him. How can he be this optimistic? "Look, relationships are just like machines. You don't throw them out when they break down. You get you're hands dirty and you grease the wheels. If you help me out, I'm sure everything will be alright."
"You can't promise that. Nobody can promise that." Clementine said. "Do you really think everyone can just get along? People will always find something to fight over."
Walter sighed and stopped walking. He leaned back against the wall of the lodge, "Ya know Clem, there are some days when I feel like you. Like we shouldn't have to care about how everyone else is doing. But we can't start thinking like that, or the world as we know it really is over." Maybe he has a point. "Let me tell you a secret Clem. Those people who say the world is over are wrong. People now are interacting more than they ever were before. In the end, we can't necessarily change the world. What we can do, is continue to help each other survive this, to empathize with each other, and to use our heads. 'All war is a system of man's failure as a thinking animal.' Steinback. Have you read him?"
"My friend Omid mentioned him once or twice, but I haven't read anything by him. He wrote 'Of Mice and Men', Right?"
"You are correct." Walter said with a grin on his face. " That was one of his works. And in other good news, my partner Mathew is building up a bit of a literature collection. While you folks stay with us, you're more then welcome to use it. I think you'll like him, he's a really nice man." Hopefully I didn't meet him on the bridge. "Anyways, what I'm trying to say is, as long as we keep a level head, we can always make the right choice, right?"
Maybe. Maybe not. "It's not always that easy." She remembered her final encounter with Lee with him telling him to leave him behind. It happened years ago, but she still regretted leaving him there to turn. It was bad enough that she couldn't do anything for her parents, but she choose to leave Lee. But what would I have done if I had shot him... She didn't want to think about that.
"What's the matter Clementine?" Walter seemingly misinterpreted the regret on her face as something bothering her. Not that I'm not worried about other things. Walter knelt down in front of her, "You can talk to me Clem. There's almost nothing you can say that would surprise me. I'm speaking from experience on this."
"I'm... I'm just worried about the people chasing us."
"Don't worry. You and your friends are safe here. Besides, Mathew will be back soon, and everything is going to be fine."
"Hey kids, what are the two of you talking about?" Clementine turned to her left and saw Kenny holding a rifle coming around from the other side of the ski lodge. He looks fine now.
"Oh, politics, philosophy, things of that nature." Walter said.
"The hell?" Kenny said.
"Well, being from Florida, I would imagine you would know all about politics, if nothing else."
"Walt, the one good thing that's come from this mess is not dealing with that shit no more. Now here you go, letting politics rear its ugly head again. There ought to be a law against that or something." The three of them all laughed at Kenny's comment. "Anyways, I was just gonna give the windows around the back of the lodge a quick check. Make sure nobody's snooping around. Wanna give me a hand?"
"Sure thing Ken." Walter said as he turned around and started walking towards the back windows. Kenny followed him, while Clementine made sure to stay next to him.
"Are you okay?" She asked softly.
"I'll be alright hon. You don't need to worry about me." Kenny said with a firm voice. He's not willing to debate this.
As Walter reached the end of the ski lodge, he looked over at the two of them with wide eyes and waved them over. Kenny and Clem quietly sprinted over to the corner where they discovered the reason for the surprised look on his face.
A red headed woman with a ponytail was staring right through the window, with her hands cupped around her eyes as she leaned face first against the glass.
Bonnie:
I've finally found them. Andrew, Carlos, and Luke were sitting at a dinner table having some sort of conversation. In spite of the circumstances, she was glad to them again. They didn't appear to be armed at the moment. With any luck, this will turn out all right. After a couple weeks back at the place, they'll change their minds. Things are pretty good their now. Not perfect, but good. Besides, I owe Bill a lot. She watched as Luke got up and walked towards away from the wall.
There was no acting involved when she heard a stranger say, "Miss?". Leaping back from the glass and lifting her hands into the air, she turned towards the voice and saw two men and a young girl. None of them looked familiar. One of them was wearing a red sweater and had a sympathetic look on his face. The other had a rifle, was wearing a green jacket and a ball cap and sported a large beard, who seemed extremely unhappy to see anyone lurking around his home. The young girl had her arms crossed, and seemed suspicious of her. The cold steel of her revolver hiding under her shirt and pressing into her back provided a little bit of comfort as she began to speak.
"Please, do you have any food?" She hated lying to anyone, but it was better then telling them why she was really here. At least this way, she wasn't asking for a bullet through the head.
"Are you okay?" Said the man in the red sweater.
"I saw the house and... my family is starving." She said as she ignored the pangs of her conscience rebelling against her words "We live down there." she pointed down the mountain slope.
"Of course." Said the sympathetic man. "Look, it'll probably be snowing up here soon. Why don't you come on inside miss..." No. If the rest of 'em see me, I'm done for. Would they kill her? She doubted it, but nothing good would come of it.
"Bonnie." She responded to the implied question. The only one who really knows me well is Luke. Maybe Nick. I can be honest about my name at least. It didn't do much to ease her conscience.
"Walt," said the bearded man in the green jacket. "I don't know about this. You're just gonna let her in? We don't know her from Adam."
"Then we'll have to get to know her Kenny. Right Clementine?" The man named Walter looked down towards the young girl.
"We should check her for weapons at least." Clementine said.
"Yeah." Kenny agreed.
I can't go in there. "Thank you, really, but like you said, that storm's gonna be on us soon, and I've got to get back to my family."
"I'll bring some food out to you then." Walter said.
"You don't have to do that." Bill's gonna take the supplies anyways.
"Please Bonnie. I insist." The man was backing away.
"Don't you have to feed yourselves?" She said.
"We've got enough canned stuff to last for years. Just stay put. I'll be right back with something." Walter turned around and walked around the corner.
There was an awkward moment of scilence before Bonnie took a few steps forward. She saw the bearded man named Kenny shift his rifle towards her. She got the message. "So..." she knelt down in front of the young girl named Clementine. "How old are you hon?"
"I'm eleven." The young girl said coldly. Poor kid. She'll have a better life back at camp. No kid should be out here in the wild like this. Maybe she can have a somewhat normal life there. As normal as possible, anyways, considering the state of things.
"I would have guessed you were a bit older than that." She said. Bonnie got up and stared at the ground until she heard Walter coming up. When she looked up, she didn't even have to pretend to be astonished. He was carrying a large box of food.
"Here you go miss." He said as he handed her the box. From it's weight, it must have been filled to the brim.
"This is too much. My family could last on this for weeks!" She said.
"That's the point. Don't mention it." Walter said with a smile.
"I... I can't even begin to thank you." Here I am, accepting food from people I'm going to imprison.
"You don't have to thank me. Just be sure to help somebody else down the line."
"I will. I promise." And I actually mean it. These folks deserve to live in a safe community. It's dangerous out here. If everything goes according to plan, these folks will be a lot safer by this time tomorrow. Even if they don't appreciate it right away, I'll be helping them. "Thank you so much. I'll be going home now." She didn't feel quite as bad about the lie anymore.
"You stay safe." Walter said with a smile.
"You too." She turned around and headed down the mountainside.
AN: Surprise! The new chapter is up already! No more half month breaks between chapters!
Anyways, If you leave a review, I would like your advice on the new POV (Point of View) character, Bonnie. I felt I knocked this chapter out of the park, but if you have any criticisms, feel free to share them.
