Silence. This had seemed to become a running joke in the apocalypse, Dallas thought, as he and the group walked through the empty streets of Savannah, the only sound coming from their footsteps. It had been another couple of hours after they had spotted Savannah, that they had arrived, slowing the train down to a stop once they had arrived. Everyone had piled out of the train, and began walking into the city, hoping to find a boat as soon as they possibly could. Now, they were moving along the street, which looked almost war torn, looking at the wreckage around them. Dallas glanced over at Ben nearby, who was walking straight ahead, looking down at the ground as he walked. Dallas still couldn't believe that it had been Ben all along, Ben, who had caused the death of three different people, all because he was stupid enough to keep his mouth shut. He wasn't sure if he could ever look at him the same way again, his initial trust of him having faded away to barely anything. Next, he glanced over at Chuck, who had his guitar and a shovel on his back, a grim look on his face as he walked. Although they had only known him for less than a day, Dallas still felt that he was a trustworthy man, that he was someone that could be counted on if they ever got in a bind. Lee and Carley were walking along at the back of the group, the former helping the latter to walk properly, since her leg was still bad. The group were still unsure whether she was going to be able to make it or not, but Carley seemed to believe that she could do it, so who were they to tell her otherwise. She was definitely a badass. Kenny was at the head of the group, leading them through the infected cityscape, scanning the windows of each of the buildings they passed. He had been silent since they had left the train, choosing to just get moving, not wanting to waste any time with words. The couple, Christa and Omid, were walking along side by side, both of them as grim as the rest of the group. They had only joined the group a couple of hours ago, but they at least seemed like a good pair. They had been helpful when it came to saving Lee and Carley, both of them jumping into action to help them onto the train. Altogether, Dallas thought that their group was at least halfway decent. Finally, Dallas looked down at the little girl walking beside him, who kept glancing at his waist, where her walkie talkie was hanging. Ever since he had found out about the stranger on the other side of the walkie talkie, Dallas had decided it would be best to keep it with him at all times, just in case the man contacted her again. Clementine looked right up at Lee, trying once again to use her big brown eyes to her advantage.
"Can't I at least just hold it?" she asked, gesturing to the walkie talkie. Dallas looked down at her with a sigh, giving her a firm look.
"Not right now okay? Maybe later," Dallas told her, turning to look at the road in front of him once more. Clementine nodded her head and looked down at the ground sadly, kicking a pebbled as she went. Dallas slowed his pace a little to fall in step with Lee and Carley, a worried look on his face. "How's she doing?"
"Her leg's getting pretty bad," Lee said, grabbing Carley's hand as she stumbled to the side a little.
"I'm fine, don't worry," she reassured, still grasping Lee's hand as she continued walking.
"You are not fine Carley, you need a chance to rest," Lee told her, looking over at Dallas pleadingly. Getting the message, Dallas made his way to the front of the group, approaching Kenny.
"How long until we reach the river front do you think?" Dallas asked, once he was walking alongside Kenny.
"Should be another couple of blocks further," Kenny replied, his face remaining neutral as he spoke.
"Are we sure we're going to find boats there?" Christa asked, moving up to Kenny's other side.
"I really hope we do," Dallas said, looking at Christa.
"There'll be boats, don't worry. Have to be. Have to be." Dallas and Lee exchanged a worried look at Kenny's repeated words, knowing something was up.
"Everything will be fine. Kenny, Dallas and Lee all know what they're doing," Ben said, looking at the three people he spoke of. Suddenly, almost out of nowhere, a bell started ringing nearby, making everyone stop in their tracks as the sound echoed through the streets.
"What the hell?" Dallas said asked, looking around at the rooftops for the source of the noise. He noticed a church nearby, the sound of the bell more than likely coming from inside the tower.
"Maybe this city isn't quite as dead as we thought," Christa stated, scanning the area closely.
"Let's just keep moving. There ain't nobody ringing that dang bell, it's probably just automatic, on a timer or something," Kenny said, continuing to walk down the street.
"What kind of church bell goes off at twenty past the hour?" Lee asked, looking at his wristwatch, making Kenny stop in his tracks, his shoulders slumping. Dallas looked up at the church again, and saw someone staring down at them, disappearing as soon as he looked at them.
"I think there's someone up there," Dallas said, pointing up to the rooftops. Everyone looked up to where he was pointing, but no one saw anything, the figure having already disappeared.
"Are you sure Dallas, I don't see anything," Ben said, turning to Dallas, who gave him a glare.
"I know what I saw. There is someone up there, at the bell tower! Someone alive," he growled, looking around at the group. Suddenly, the walkie talkie on his belt crackled to life, and the voice from before came out.
"If I were you, I'd get out of the street. Now"
Everyone looked at Dallas in shock, being taken by surprise at the sudden speaking.
"I swear someone told me that thing was broken," Christa snarled, looking at Dallas angrily. Ignoring Christa, Dallas pulled the walkie talkie from his belt, pressing the button on the side.
"Who the hell is this?" Dallas asked, speaking into the walkie talkie. When he pulled his finger off of the button, all that came through was static. He pushed the button again, speaking into it once more. "Hello? Hello? Answer me godammit."
"Anything?" Carley asked, watching Dallas closely like everyone else. Dallas shook his head, placing the walkie talkie on his belt. Dallas shook his head, looking up at the bell tower once more. Soon, the bell stopped ringing and the group were dropped into silence once more.
"What in the hell was all that about? Is there somebody trying to fuck with us?" Omid asked, looking around at the rooftops.
"It sounded more like a warning to me," Ben theorised. Dallas glared at him once more, making Ben cower away in fear, avoiding his gaze.
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls…" Chuck suddenly said, looking down the street.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kenny asked, looking over at the old man. As he was turning to look at him, he stopped and looked down the street, following Chuck's gaze. Everyone else started looking to, mixed faces of fear and shock masking everyone's faces. In front of them, was a small herd of walkers, who were slowing shuffling their way along the street, towards their group.
"It tolls for thee…" Chuck finished, pulling his shovel off of his back.
"RUN!" Dallas yelled, running down the street, the rest of the group following close behind. Kenny pulled his gun out of his pocket and fired at one of the walkers, sending it to the ground in seconds. Dallas pulled his crossbow off his back, slotting an arrow into the slot and firing, killing a walker himself. He didn't waste time in reloading, as everyone else pulled out their weapons, taking down walkers as they went. Chuck struck down his own walker, just as Christa shot down that got to close to him with her gun. Carley shot her gun twice, managing to kill two with one shot, but only one with the other. Clementine ran up to Dallas and stayed as close as she could, running to keep up with him and the rest of the group as they made their way down the street. Dallas fired his crossbow at another walker, loading another arrow into a few seconds after the last one flew away. Chuck continued to run down the street, swinging his shovel around wildly as he went, mowing down walkers left and right, clearing the way for the group to move down the street. After taking down another walker, Dallas looked over at Kenny, who fell to the ground, a walker having grabbed his ankle.
"Help!" he shouted, reaching out for his gun.
"Kenny!" Dallas shouted, aiming his crossbow at the walkers head. He fired and the arrow flew away, only managing to hit it in the shoulder. Cursing under his breath, he went to reload, but a shot rang out before he could do anything the walker falling dead. Dallas turned around to find Carley, her gun aimed at the now dead walker.
"Thanks," Kenny called, picking his gun up and standing, continuing the run down the street. Dallas nodded his thanks, loading another bow into the crossbow. The group continued down the street, searching around frantically for somewhere they could hide.
"Ben!" Dallas turned around to see Clementine and Ben, both of them surrounded by a small group of walkers.
"Clementine!" he shouted, letting off an arrow. It lodged into the closest walker and it fell to the ground, only to be replaced by another.
"Dallas, help!" Clementine screamed, fearfully looking at the walkers encroaching on her space.
"Ben, help her!" Dallas shouting, reloading his crossbow. Ben looked down at the fearful Clementine and back at the walkers, closing his eyes before turning around and running away, leaving a frantic Clementine behind. "You fucker Ben!"
Dallas put his crossbow back on his back and pulled out his rifle, aiming it at the nearby walkers. He began shooting down the walkers, taking down any that got to close to him or Clementine. He continued to take down as many as he could, but he was unable to stop the walker stumbling towards Clementine, who started screaming. Dallas started running towards her frantically, not wanting to lose the most important thing in his life.
"Don't worry darling." Chuck came up from behind the walker and smacked it over the head, making its head concave, as it fell to the ground.
"Thank you so much," Dallas said, hugging Clementine tightly.
"Get her out of here, I'll catch up with you!" Chuck shouted, whacking another walker over the head.
"We're not leaving you behind," Carley shouted, shooting down more walkers.
"Agreed, let's go Chuck, now!" Dallas yelled, leading the way down the street again, Chuck, Clementine, Lee and Carley not far behind, the rest of the group already ahead of them.
'Move your asses everyone, River Street is just up ahead," Kenny shouted, pointing down a nearby road.
"That's not all," Ben pointed out, looking down the street. The street ahead was full of walkers, all of them stumbling towards them.
"Can someone give me a fuckin' break for once?" Kenny screamed, firing at one of the walkers in frustration.
"The gate, let's go through the gate!" Christa shouted, leading the group over to a nearby gate. Everyone piled through the gate, Dallas being at the end. He looked down the street one last time, glancing at the church, before following everyone through, not looking back.
The opening of Episode 4...HERE IT IS!
And that is right, I saved Chuck, praise me viewers, praise me now! :P
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and are pumped for the rest of the story ^_^
Farewell my Bookies of Awesomeness :D