Abandoned Cabin: Nate sits against a tree outside the cabin, while Lee and the other survivors wait silently within the old walls.
When Nate finally opened his eyes, he felt a dull pain beating in his wrist. Disoriented, the man scratched his matted brown hair with his free hand. Beady sweat melded with his rough fingers as he realized his hat was lying several feet from where he sat.
"What the hell…" he groaned, his voice barely above a whisper. Moving his free arm, the trucker tried to push off onto his feet, but felt a ripping pain in his other wrist. Cocking his head feverishly, Nate noticed his stinging arm pressed against the tree he sat by. His wrist was clumsily nailed to the base of the tree. Suddenly feeling the true pain of the wound, Nate let out a stifled yell. His body tensed, sending waves of hot, electric pain as his movements created fresh streams of blood. Nate began groaning as he struggled to calm his flailing.
"He's awake." A familiar voice called out, catching Nates' attention with an icy glare. Across the yard, Bonnie stood still in the doorway of the cabin. Her hair was released from her messy bun, allowing golden-red hair to cluster around her cherry red cheeks. Despite her alien beauty, her sunken eyes revealed her stress and fatigue. The two exchanged twisted scowls – even Nate was too tired to put on his usual smarmy attitude.
"You fucking bitch." Nate growled, pressing his back further against the bark of his tree to relieve the tension in his bleeding wrist. Bonnie wanted to crack a cocky smile, but instead, she began to tear up. Fighting through her anger, Bonnie crossed her arms against her chest.
"You killed that little girl and her family, and for what? We're gonna make sure you can't hurt anyone anymore."
"That little fucker bit my finger off. Kids these days are more violent than ever."
Bonnie spat with a distaste for Nates' constant sarcasm. The reaction was met with even more enjoyment.
"There ain't no reason to do what you did. Tying a girl up and…" she paused, too sickened to look away. As she closed her eyes, glimpses of the girl's corpse opening its foggy, dead eyes flew through her mind. Nate noticed her hesitation and rolled his eyes.
"You've never killed people for personal gain before? I doubt that sweet-cheeks." He scoffed, feeling his snarky attitude return to him.
"Don't try to justify yourself. Just because the dead are up and walking doesn't give you the right to abuse women you find on the street – especially children."
"You didn't answer my question." Nate smiled, lowering his head to eye the dirt beneath his legs. "I saw those marks on your arm. You know, I tried meth once or twice when I was younger too, but damn girl. It looks like a damn tattoo cluster across your arm. You ever kill someone for coke?"
Bonnie paused, her mouth agape without words to fill it, at which point Nate looked back into her eyes and smiled.
"Shut your fucking mouth." Bonnie quivered, maintaining her tough-as-nails attitude long enough to turn around and disappear into the cabin.
Leaving the trucker to his pain, Bonnie felt the guilt of her past life melt away. Inside the cabin, Lee and Carley stood quietly over the old bed frame. Their eyes traced the bloodied outline of where Becca once laid, evaluating the horrific crime scene with an uncomfortable silence. Sensing the approaching person, Lee turned around slowly and gave a weak smile.
"It's good to see you, Lee." Bonnie said truthfully, returning a weak smile of her own. They shook hands without breaking eye contact. Carley then gave a friendly, yet somber nod.
"What're we going to do with him?" Lee suddenly spoke up. Though his question seemed genuine, they all knew the answer.
"We need to kill him. Clean and quick." Carley said. Though there was visible discomfort, nobody felt the need to disagree.
"What about the bodies? Should we move them all somewhere more peaceful?" Bonnie asked.
"We're not digging up bodies, Bonnie." Lee answered, letting his vision land back on the bloodied mattress. "Besides, we've already taken enough time coming here. Clementine and the others are probably much farther than we expected."
"Lee, we can't just leave them here. This place is cursed."
"Is it?" Carley interjected, pulling the others' attention calmly to her. "As long that man is good and dead, this place is just an old cabin in the forest. He was the curse, not the building itself."
"I guess…"
Omid walked through the front door, immediately joining the three others in their huddle. He seemed to tip forward as he walked, hanging his head in silence. Carley sensed this and offered a friendly pat on the back, but retracted it soon after.
"I made sure Shel wouldn't turn." He said slowly, mulling the words in his head with a layer of disbelief. "Stephanie was already taken care of from the shot."
Lee looked back to the others, looking between the three tired survivors. "They were good people. Now maybe they can be together with their sister."
Outside, Nate swore loudly. All four survivors looked up in anger, nearly forgetting to mourn the fallen in silence.
"Let's get this over with." Bonnie grit her teeth.
"It doesn't seem right to kill anyone so quickly," Carley started, "but Bonnie is right. We can't give him any chances to escape or fight back. We need to put a stop to all this suffering."
Lee straightened his shoulders, looking out into the front yard.
"I agree, but if we do this, we need to make sure we don't become accustomed to killing."
"Lee, we've been accustomed to killing for months now. We just haven't had to do something like this in a long time." Carley reminded, hiding the discomfort in her attitude. Lee glanced to her and frowned, looking away again.
"It's different this time. He's not a threat anymore."
Bonnie exhaled sharply, widening her eyes. "Not a threat? All we did was nail his arm to a tree. That won't do shit once he gets it off, and he will eventually find a way."
"What about back at the dairy farm, Lee." Carley started, drawing the man's attention back to her again.
"Stop."
"No, it's important. The youngest brother was incapacitated. He was sitting there in a bear trap and you killed him. We all agreed with your decision because we knew he was far too dangerous to be left alive. That doesn't make you a bad person, Lee."
"It doesn't make it any easier either."
"I'll do it." Omid piped up, looking up to Lee with determination in his eyes. "I'll make it quick, then we can put all this shit behind us and get back to Christa and the others."
"I just want it to be done and over with, so I say go for it." Bonnie added, walking away to stand in the doorway. She found Nate staring back at her with fire lit behind his eyes.
"How many bullets did he have left?" Lee asked Carley, eyeing Nate's discarded gun in the pocket of her jeans.
"It's empty. He missed the last shot after he got tackled."
"Well then we'll have to use our knives. Omid, do you still have the knife Christa gave you?"
"Of course. She bought it for me for our second anniversary. I was a big knife collector before all of this." Omid responded dully, brandishing the hunting blade from his side pocket.
The three stood in silence, watching Bonnie in the doorway. Nobody wanted to make the first move. Then, out of the blue, Omid walked swiftly to the doorway and passed Bonnie out into the yard. Carley looked to Lee, sharing her fearful gaze with him. Lee returned it, offering a hand to which she took.
"He's getting it easy." Bonnie spoke up from the doorway.
"There's nothing easy about death." Lee returned, staring out of the doorway in anticipation.
After a long, drawn-out silence, the cabin was filled with Nate's screams. They began almost immediately, spreading a plethora of foul language across the forest for all the undead to hear.
"You fucking pussy! If you fucking touch me I will rip you into little fucking piece-" The swearing turned into a jolting yelp of pain.
The noise scared the trio out into the yard, wishing more than ever that they could leave the haunted cabin and returned to what remained of their families. Looking towards the dying screams, Carley caught a glimpse and quickly looked away, squeezing Lee's hand lightly. As soon as the yelling had begun, it stopped.
Omid towered over Nate's bloodied corpse, holding back tears as he pulled his blade out of the truckers' lacerated skull.
"I see roamers!"
Clementine stared in the direction Eddie was pointing. Sure enough, the first few stragglers of a greater horde inched towards them in the far distance ahead. Even after several months of braving the horrors of the outside world, Clementine was still scared of the monsters.
"Jesus, how did we not hear the sound before? There must be a few dozens at least."
Christa held her arm out, urging Clementine to move closer to her. The little girl obeyed, and she clung to Christa's pant leg.
"I wish Lee was here." She trembled, staring straight at the roamers as they lurched forward. A few became many, then many more until the road ahead was clogged with groaning corpses.
"We're going to get through this, sweetie. He'll find us."
Doug took a few steps ahead, murmuring under his breath as he scanned the horizon. He then turned around with a burning cog in his mind. "It doesn't stretch that far through. Maybe six or seven tops before we break through to the other side."
Eddie laughed, practically spinning on his heel. "Six or seven? We have knives, dude. We can barely handle three."
"Where else do we go?" Christa asked, looking between Doug and Eddie. "We can't go back. Our best chance is to put as many miles between us and this place as we can before the others catch up."
There was a collective decision made at that moment. Each of the four exchanged worried glances between each other until Christa spoke up.
"We push through."
"Come on. That's literally the worst possible plan." Eddie groaned, taking a cautionary step back. Although Doug agreed with Christa, his curiosity forced him to remain silent.
"We can't just sit here and wait for them to catch up. I'm done waiting. We need to get the hell out of here and find somewhere safe to wait for the others." Christa dropped her harsh attitude to look down at Clementine. "What do you think?"
Clementine looked down. Only Lee had ever asked her opinion, and even then, it wasn't situations as dire as this.
"I just want us all to be safe." She squeaked, looking back up to Christa with the most confident face she could muster. "If that means we have to run through the monsters, then that's what we should do, but we have to stick together."
Christa smiled down at the little girl, easily charmed by her optimism. When Clem smiled back, the older woman looked up and locked eyes with Eddie.
"If you want to leave then feel free to now. But, if you're planning on staying in a group then I suggest you get ready to help."
"There's a way we can do this quickly and efficiently, but it's risky." Doug speculated, pacing in circles as the sound of the undead clouded his overactive brain. He weaved in and out between the others, staring down at the faded asphalt until he snapped back to reality.
"Alright. Eddie and I will stand on either side of the road and draw the few out on the road to either side. Then we'll each head off in our respective directions and split the herd into two smaller groups as best we can. There aren't that many, so Christa and Clementine can run through the center once the gap is widened and meet us further up the road."
Wait, wait. So you and I are gonna be the bait?" Eddie asked, sneering at the nerd. Doug opened his mouth, but was silenced by Christa's stern voice.
"Would you rather me and the girl draw their attention? Are you that selfish?"
Eddie turned to Christa and backed down. "No, you're right. I'm sorry. I'm not the best under pressure." He turned his attention to Doug and lowered his voice. "So we draw them away and then what?"
"Well, theoretically we could circle around them and then head back to the main road. That would separate the horde into two separate groups."
"What do you mean theoretically?"
Doug shook his head, looking over his shoulder and quickly scanning the horde again. "Nevermind. Just be ready to draw them away, and for god sakes be careful. Their sluggish speed should make them practically effortless to deal with."
"Bullshit. You know just as well as I do that those things are fucking dangerous." Eddie looked down and wiped his brow. For a moment, he locked eyes with Clementine and smiled weakly. The little girl returned it, fueling his determination.
"Alright, man. Fuck it. If anything happens, you two hide out in the nearest building along the road and wait for us. Alright?"
Clementine nodded sheepishly before looking up at Christa who did the same. Doug reached into his backpack, pulling out a small pocket knife. He looked at it cautiously before kneeling down.
"Clem, take this alright?" He said awkwardly, handing the knife off to a nervous Clementine. The weapon felt ornate in her hands, but she nodded and snapped the handle to the band of her skirt.
"It's not a toy, but it will protect you if something happens."
"Do you know how to open it?" Christa asked, still not completely sold on the idea of giving a child a knife. "I can show you."
"No, it's okay." Clementine squeaked, looking off into the approaching herd. Up close, she could make out the various wounds and marks across the faces of the shambling dead. "Lee showed me at the motel. I promise I won't use it unless I have to."
"Alright then," Christa said looking up at Eddie to offer her support. "You all ready?"
"I guess." Eddie exhaled, noticing deep tire tracks in the dirt next to them. He drew his knife, as did Doug, and the two panned out to each side of the road and nodded to one another.
"On my mark." Doug commanded, eyeing the closest roamer.