Before long, Dallas caught up with the rest of the group, running into the backyard of a very large house. Once Dallas came into the yard, Lee closed the gate behind him, instantly walking over to Carley, who was currently on the ground writhing in pain.
"You okay?" Dallas asked, moving over to sit beside Carley, while Lee kneeled at her other side.
"I'm fine, it's fine," she reassured him, groaning in pain as Lee touched her leg.
"You are not fine Carley, you opened up your wound again from all that running, you're bleeding," Lee said, examining her wound. "We need to get him inside now, so we can clean it up before it becomes infected."
"Kenny? How's that door coming?" Dallas called, running over to him.
"I'm working on it, I'm working on it, don't rush me," Kenny snapped, going back to examining the door.
"Just try to get the door open as quickly as possible," Lee said calmly, holding Carley's hand. "Who knows how long it will be until those things get in here."
"I know Lee, I'll try to move as fast as I can, I promise," Kenny said evenly, looking at his friend. The two share a knowing look and went back to their respective tasks.
"I'll try and find another way in, just in case we can't get that door open," Dallas offered, moving over to the windows. Nearby, Ben walked up beside him, a regretful look on his face.
"Listen, Dallas-" he began to say, before Dallas turned on him angrily.
"You left her to die you fucker. She almost died because of your cowardice," Dallas snapped, glaring at the teen.
"I was scared okay, I didn't know what to do," Ben said, cowering away a little.
"You could've saved her! I was almost ready to forgive you for what happened, for all the people you killed. But then, you nearly let the most important thing in the world to me right now almost die. How could I ever forgive you for that? How?!" Dallas shouted, gaining a few stray eyes, everyone interested in what was going.
"I'm sorry," was all Ben could say, as he looked down at his shoes, not being able to meet Dallas' eyes.
"Just leave me alone for now okay, or I might be tempted to rip your head off," Dallas growled, trying to pull one of the boards off of the window.
"Okay." Ben started to walk away before Dallas grabbed his arm, spinning him back around.
"One last thing, never put Clementine in danger again," Dallas said, letting go of Ben's arm. He nodded his head and walked away, going to examine one of the other windows. Shaking his head, he kicked the wall and leant against the window, trying to calm himself down.
"You know you won't be able to blame that boy forever." Dallas looked up to see Chuck standing beside him, leaning on the wall.
"Doesn't mean I can't hold a grudge and throw some dirty looks his way," Dallas said, looking back down at the ground.
"Listen son, being brave doesn't come as naturally to all of us like it does to you and some of these other folks here. That boy Ben? He's no exception," Chuck told him, looking over at Ben. Dallas moved himself away from wall and looked over at Ben, who was half-heartedly poking at the boards over the window, quickly putting more energy into it when he saw Dallas staring.
"I almost lost her Chuck. How could I forgive him for that?" Dallas asked, turning to the old man, who chuckled to himself.
"I never said you had to forgive him right away. Just give it a little time, give him time to redeem himself. Then, after all that, you should at least talk to him. I can tell that he lives to serve others, he just needs the chance," Chuck explained. Dallas nodded his head in understanding, looking at Chuck again.
"You're right, I never act like that. It's funny how someone you care about can bring the best and the worst out of you," Dallas laughed quietly, glancing over at Clementine, who was standing by the gate.
"You should go talk to the girl, see how she's doing. It'll get your mind off of things," Chuck suggested, nodding his head to the girl.
"Thanks Chuck," Dallas said, walking past him to get to Clementine. She was staring out past the gate, listening to the groaning of the passing walkers, scared that they might make it through.
"Do you think they saw us run back here? Will they find us? Are we going to be okay?" she questioned, after hearing his footsteps behind her.
"Don't worry Clem, I'm sure that even if they did see us, we should be able to take care of them. We're a good group," he reassured her, kneeling down in front of her.
"But I can still hear them moving around out there. They could be getting closer, what if they're getting closer?" she asked again, turning around to look at him.
"It's just your imagination. If they get to close, I promise I won't ever let you get hurt," he assured her, smiling at her.
"I know you will. I guess I'll feel a little safer when we get inside the house," she said, looking down at her feet.
"It shouldn't be too long, go wait with Lee and Carley while we have a look, okay?" Dallas said, gesturing over to the couple nearby. Nodding her head, she went over and sat beside Carley, holding her hand for comfort.
"You feeling any better?" Dallas asked, walking up to them.
"I'm doing alright, considering," Carley reply, wincing in pain right on cue.
"You are not all right, okay? Like I said, you've reopened your wound, you're slowly losing blood, and who knows what might've gotten in there. It might be infected. It might be-" Lee started to say, becoming frantic, before Carley rested her hand on his cheek.
"Lee, calm down. I'm going to be fine, have a little faith in me," she said, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek.
"I'm sorry, I just, I don't want to lose you. Whether it be from an infected leg or anything else," Lee choked, a stray tear hanging in his eye.
"Try not to worry Lee, this kind of thing always looks worse than it is, trust me," Dallas reassured him with a smile.
"See, Dallas agrees with me, stop mollycoddling me," Carley joked, nudging Lee playfully.
"Fine, fine. I'm still going to watch you though," Lee said, grasping her hand tightly.
"Can't argue with that. You couldn't keep your eyes off of me since day one," she laughed. Leaving Lee and Carley to laugh at each other, while he moved away, walking over to talk to Omid and Christa.
"Hey Dallas," Omid greeted happily, once he was closer.
"Hey guys, I'm just going around to see how everyone is doing," Dallas said, standing in front of the pair.
"We're doing fine, considering the situation at the moment," Christa replied, glancing outside the fence, noticing a walker moving down the street nearby.
"I really hope those things don't find us," Omid said, watching the walker with his wife.
"Hopefully we will find a way into the house soon, so we shouldn't have to worry for too long," Dallas reassured them.
"Dallas, Lee, can you come over here?" Kenny called from the back door. Dallas nodded to Omid and Christa before walking over to meet Kenny, meeting up with Lee on the way.
"Any progress?" Lee asked, once the pair were standing with Kenny.
"The damn thing is locked up tight. It's far too heavy to force open, without a whole lot of noise to go with it," Kenny answered, kicking the door in annoyance.
"There could be another way in," Lee pointed out, scanning along the house.
"Yeah, tell me when you find it," Kenny scoffed, turning to the door again.
"Do we reckon anyone is inside this place. It's boarded up pretty well," Dallas commented, looking up at all the boarded windows.
"If there were anyone here, they woulda been out here by now, thanks to all the noise we're makin'. Whoever was here did a pretty good job though, on that we can agree. It'll be a good place to lay low for a while, so we can figure out what to do now," Kenny said, looking up at the house with Dallas.
"Listen, Kenny, I've been meaning to ask, how're you doing, how're you holding up?" Dallas asked, looking at his friend with concern.
"Maybe later Dallas, we should focus on getting inside before we have an episode of Dr. Phil," Kenny replied, turning back to the door. Sighing, Dallas went to turn around and continue searching the yard, when he noticed Lee bend down in front of the door.
"What is it?' Dallas asked, bending down beside him to see what he was looking at. In front of them, built into the door, was a pet door, already to be opened.
"Looks like a pet door, our only problem is that the damn thing is locked," Lee said, pushing on the door experimentally.
"What in the hell is the point of a locked doggie door?" Kenny snickered, looking down at it.
"I have." Everyone turned around to look at Omid, who had moved over with Christa to examine the pet door. "My neighbour had one just like that. It's radio controlled. The dog wears a collar with a chip in it, so the door only opens when the dog gets close to it.
"Well would you look at that, we have another teacher," Kenny joked, between Omid and Lee.
"Alright then, but… where's the dog?" Ben asked. Everyone looked around the yard but found no trace that any dog had been nearby recently, their eyes falling on the nearby grave.
"Please don't tell me it's in there," Dallas said, feeling sick at the thought of the dead body of a dog.
"I'll dig it up, don't worry," Chuck said, pulling his shovel off of his back, walking over to the grave, everyone close behind him. The group surrounded the grave as Chuck stuck the shovel into the dirt, beginning a small pile next to it.
"Hey, be careful okay? These days, digging up dead things isn't exactly the same as it used to be," Omid pointed out, standing beside his girlfriend as he watched Chuck dig up the grave.
"Duly noted," Chuck said, the pile of dirt getting bigger and bigger. Clementine walked over to stand beside Dallas, looking down at the grave as it went deeper and deeper.
"Clem, could you go sit with Carley for a while please," Dallas said, turning her away from the grave.
"But I want to see why it smells so much," Clementine complained, refusing to move.
"Come one Clementine, come sit with me while they work," Carley said, patting the ground beside her. Clementine walked over reluctantly and sat down in a huff, looking a little unhappy with Dallas' decision.
"Never let her win, or she'll walk all over you, good job," Christa whispered, making Dallas roll his eyes.
"I think I found the dog," Chuck said, sticking his shovel into the large pile of dirt. Inside the grave, was the dead body of a dog, it's bones easily being seen sticking out of its furless body.
"God that smells," Ben wretched, covering his mouth with his hand. Chuck leant down to examine the dog, noticing the collar was still around its neck. He reached in and grabbed the collar, having a little trouble pulling it away.
"The darn thing is stuck," Chuck grumbled, trying to pull the collar off. As he tried pulling It off once more, the head lagged down and fell off, a loud squelching sound following it.
"God that's gross," Dallas commented, as Christa turned around and began vomiting.
"Are you okay hon?" Omid asked, patting his girlfriend's back until her had finished purging.
"I'm fine, don't worry, it's just the smell," Christa reassured him, resting her hands on her legs.
"Are you sure it isn't-" Omid began to say, before Christa kicking him in the leg, making him stop talking.
"I said I'm fine, okay?" Christa snapped, looking at Omid apologetically from kicking his leg. Chuck, Lee, Kenny and Dallas all walked back over to the door, collar ready to go.
"Who would like to do the honours?" Chuck asked, dangling the dog collar out in front of him.
"I think Lee should, since he pointed out the door," Dallas suggested. Nodding, Lee took the collar out of Chuck's hand and leant down, and put the collar near the door, hearing a click, as the light on the door switched to green.
"Hell yeah!' Kenny exclaimed, practically jumping for joy.
"Let's not get to excited yet, we still need to figure out how this will get us into the house," Chuck said, bringing Kenny down a little. Clementine ran over to the door excitedly, holding Dallas' hand while Lee leant down to the ground, sticking his hand through the pet door.
"You see anything in there?" Ben asked, watching Lee look inside the house.
"I don't see much, it looks like it's probably been empty for a while now," Lee replied, coming away from the door. Groans could be suddenly heard from all around, everyone looking around in fear.
"Whatever you guys are doing, could we do it fast?" Carley asked, trying to stand up. Lee ran to her side and put her arm around his shoulder, bringing her over to the door.
"I tried reaching up to get the lock, but I couldn't reach it," Lee told her, as they got closer to the door.
"I could give it a shot, maybe I could-" Dallas began to say, moving toward the door, before Clementine pulled out of his grip and got on her hands and knees, crawling through the pet door before anyone could stop her.
"Clem, are you okay in there? Say something, anything!" Dallas exclaimed, moving closer to the door. She didn't reply, making everyone worry as they all moved towards the door, ready to knock it down at a moment's notice. The next thing they knew, they heard a small click and the door was opened, revealing Clementine on the other side.
"Ta-da!" she cheered, flourishing her hands in the air.
"Good job Clem," Dallas praised, kneeling down to hug her.
"I did good?" She asked happily, returning his hug.
"Of course. But next time, I want you to warn me before you do something like that, okay?" Dallas asked her, giving her a firm look.
"I know, I'll tell you next time," she promised, putting her pinkie out to him. He gave her his own and they shook on it, the two of them laughing as Kenny rolled his eyes nearby.
"As fun as this is, do you think we could get inside? My leg hurt's like hell right now," Carley said, as Lee brought her towards the door. Kenny stepped through the door first, looking from side to side before motioning for everyone else to follow him through.
"Everybody inside, I think we're okay," Kenny said stepping into the house. Everyone moved into the house and started moving around slowly, examining the area as they went. Dallas was the last person into the house, closing the door behind him as he went in, blocking the walkers from coming in.
Chuck is alive, and so is Carley
But Carley's leg is not doing good
And Omid is in tip top shape...
My how things change aye :P
I got a new idea for this story tonight, which I hope will get you guys thinking when I add it in. Its not until much later in the chapters, like towards the end of the episode, so don't get your hopes too high ^_^
Farewell fro now my Bookies of Awesomeness :D
P.S. Rebloxic, you should totally follow and favourite this story, and maybe even me as an author, since you love to review this fanfic... ;D
Just a suggestion .