Evelyn and her faction had suffered several casualties during the attack on the Wanderers. They had left with Lee's group, but after making some distance in between them and the compound, they decided to part ways. Their wish was to return to Atlanta and try to fix things, and no one was going to argue with her about her decision.
The vehicle they had taken was working good so far. After some time on the road, they decided to stop for the night. Driving at nighttime was definitely riskier. They managed to push the other cars in the area to help sort of close them in, as they made a small campfire, since temperatures were falling.
"We don't like traveling with complete strangers. At least I don't," said Cristy, observing Kenzie and Kyle.
"Oh. Well, there really isn't much to our story. I guess we have been on the road constantly. We're originally from Florida." Said Kenzie. She seemed to be more social then her brother, but it didn't look like there was much of a difference in age.
"You've been around long enough to know about the Wanderers." stated Mika.
"Yeah. We've always found evidence about a group of people that kills and takes other people's things. We were trying to get away from them one day, but I guess the killing blow has been dealt already." replied Kyle.
Cass was sitting next to Clementine, trying to make conversation.
"Do you think we can trust them?"
"What?" Asked Clem.
"Those 2 over there. They seem alright, but you never know."
She shrugged.
"We found them in the woods, while running from walkers. They backed us up at their base, so I guess we can. You can't be too sure though."
Dalvin and Coach were on top of one of the cars, standing and guarding the area, making sure nothing got the jump on them.
"You think we finished all them crazy fuckers back there? We made a real mess."
"Yeah. If not, they know not to mess with us now. They cost us some good people, you saw it."
"I've been noticing something. Amanda ain't doing so good is she?"
Dalvin looked back towards the group and got a glimpse of her. She was interacting with others, but he knew she wasn't feeling well.
"Don't think so. She and Brendon were really close friends, and he got killed right in front of her. She was close with Lakela too. I don't think she saw her go down, but it still affected her. Shit, it affected all of us," he added.
Zoey was helping Cristy set up the area so that some of them could get some rest. After they finished moving some stuff around, Claire called Lee over.
" Is something wrong?"
"My dad. He's not the dad I grew up with. He's.. Different. He acts different, I know I may be wrong, but I feel like I can't trust him, and I don't feel comfortable with him being around my sister."
Lee looked back at him.
"I guess you're right. They were with the Wanderers for several days. Who knows the kind of stuff they might have told him. Or done to him. How can we help?"
"I.. I don't know.." she said, putting her head in her hands. "Just keep a eye on him. Whatever has to be done, do it." she said, as they walked back towards the campfire.
They all managed to get some sleep, some slept in the car and others right outside. It's been a long time since they actually had good sleep. But they all thankfully woke up early in the morning, and Mike decided to start up the car so they could get on the move on as soon as possible.
"Was it a good idea for Evelyn to leave?" Bonnie asked Lee, as he was putting their stuff back in.
"It was her decision. She wanted to keep defending Georgia from the walkers and whatever else. We all know that it's a never ending task, but you can't change someone's mind on something. We'll be fine with out her."
They moved into a small area with buildings, similar to the one they were in several days ago.
"Uh-oh." They looked behind them and saw the horde coming down the road.
"Bastards. They probably followed us down the road. Quick, into the building," said Emile, as he kicked down the front door.
"What if it's full of walkers?" Asked Cass.
"I'd rather deal with a few walkers then thousands. C'mon." They decided that they should head up towards the second floor. The area was empty, thankfully. They observed from the window the walkers pass by, as they kept going down the road.
Cass was next to the window leading to the roof and saw someone jumping across some objects as they made their way across the roof.
"There's someone coming on the roof." she said, as Emile jumped out with his gun draw on the person, who still wasn't quite visible.
"Okay, that's close enough, unless you want to get shot." He said, aiming at them.
The person got a few feet closer, which turned out to be a girl, her jacket was black and mostly blended in, with a hoodie, she seemed to be pretty young. She took off her hood, revealing her blue eyes, which were in a state of alert.
"Hey, keep your voice down! I'm guessing you aren't seeing what's down on the road?!" She hissed at him, trying not to make any noise.
Lee noticed the situation. He assumed that she was harmless and let her in the room where they were at.
"Why are you here? I saw you jumping across the roof."
She put her hands on her hips and looked at him.
"I saw this place a while back. Let's say... Um... A week ago? Anyway, my family, we've been camping out for a while outdoors. I thought we could set up here, but not now at least."
"Your family, how many of them are there?"
"They're.. The family I made. Let's leave it at that.. They're okay, I hope. It's my turn to ask questions. Why are you here? If I'm using my instincts, you're trying to get out of the state?"
"Right."
"Aren't we all. This winter phase is crap, but I'm just trying to make it, like everyone else."
"What's your name?" Asked Cass.
"I guess I can share. It's Shelby. You all seemed to be ready for a war, am I ri-" Before she could finish her sentence, walkers breached the lower floor, breaking the window as they tried to pour in.
"They're in!" said Bonnie, as she put herself at the top of the stairs and tried to hold them off by shooting them, and throwing any furniture they could.
"Damnit.. They got in." Shelby said, as she paced the room.
"Well do you have a way out?" Asked Mika.
"Well I can.. Can try, but.. Just follow me, don't slow down." she replied, as she jumped back out the window and waited for them to come out. They all scattered across the rooftop, following Shelby, who was holding onto a backpack, as she kept looking behind her to make sure they were following.
They reached the edge of the rooftop, as she reached down and pulled out a large wooden plank and threw it across to the other roof, and quickly crossed it.
"It's the only way," she yelled across to them, as she pulled out a pistol.
"Are you gonna shoot us?!" exclaimed Mike.
"No," She replied, as she began to fire at the walkers that had made their way to the roof. They all quickly crossed to the other side. Bonnie was the last one to cross as the plank collapsed, just as she made it to the other side.
"Now we head down, chances are they aren't in yet." They ran down into the building, which turned out to be empty, as they kicked down the door and wandered out into the street, no walker in sight.
"Hey what about the car?" Asked Zoey.
"If it was back with them, there's no getting it back. At least for now." Said Shelby.
"You seem to have everything under control, how old are you?" Asked Cristy.
"I'd say 16. And I wish I had everything under control, I'm scared as hell. I'll cut you a favor. You help me with some issues, and I'll come back with you for your car when the horde is gone. Deal?"
No one refused, so they followed her down into a dirt road, which was meant for bikes. Clementine remembered going for bike rides with her parents, something that felt like it was ages ago.
"Where exactly are you leading?" Asked Dalvin, who still didn't trust her, despite her helping them get out of there.
"the camp. It's not much, and there really isn't nothing special about it, but it's pretty secluded. You can talk to the um.. Others there." she replied.
They walked for some time as they decided to take a small break. They all sat down under the branches of some trees. As they sat there, Shelby checked out a map she had been carrying.
" Not far now. Just a bit more down the way we've been going."
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
"I'm trying to help you out. They've always told me to help whoever needed it, and to hurt who wants to hurt. Pretty simple. They'll understand."
Kate was leaning on one of the trees, and called Lee over to ask him something.
"This camp. The one she's talking about, what I'd they're crazy or something? Or they're trying to bait us into something worse."
"I've thought about it. They're not going to do anything to us, I assure you."
They continued their trek down the old dirt roads, which eventually led to a bigger track, back into the woods. They went through some deep areas, coming out in the camp she had mentioned.
There were several guards watching the area, with ruined cars forming a perimeter, and inside, several small houses and RV's formed the camp, and some medium sized buildings in the area. It looked as if it was built out of a neighborhood.
"When you said camp, I didn't think it'd be this big," said Zoey, as she observed the area. It was pretty hidden from the main road.
"I didn't know how to call it. Anyway, these are the people you're gonna want to talk to." two men approached them. One of them seemed like a viking, due to his big frame, and the other one seemed more of a casual person.
"The name is Philip. The weather is a bit harsh now, so if you want to talk about what's next, come into the fort." The tall man said, as they all went into one of the buildings. There were candles lighting up the inside, and the windows had wooden boards on them.
"That girl back there. What's her role in all this?" Asked Coach, pointing to Shelby, who was tending to a fire in the middle of the camp with other people.
"Ah Shelby. Well we do things differently here. We have some sort of council, members of that council are in charge of a specific area or thing to do around here. I'm in charge of security and wellbeing, and she's.. Well... She likes to head out even though we advise against it, so she's kind of our scout."
"But the question is, what're your plans? Georgia is back down south, we are now.. Hm.. North somewhere. If you'd all like to stay, we can work something out."
"Oh yeah? Like what?" Asked Mika.
"You're all heavily armed, which could help us with security around here. The more weapons and people we get, the better. You have my vote, but you have to get the other council members on board, you have help, after all."
"Help? From who?"Asked Claire, who liked how they were set up, with a council system.
"Shelby. I know that she would be willing to sponsor you with the others, if you just talk to her. That's the option."
"I think we should take it. It's fucking freezing at night, and we won't survive long out there." Mike told Lee. They all talked about it and gave their opinions, and they all opted to try to convince the other council members.
"So.. Who's gonna try to tell her?" Dalvin asked. He didn't feel like asking her anything.
"I'll try. We're almost the same age anyways." said Clem, as she approached her by the fire. She sat on the other side of the wood, wiping some snow off of some rocks.
"Did they send you out here?" she asked, without looking at her. She kept her knees tucked up under her chin as she observed the fire.
"Uh.. No. I came on my own."
"Did I do good, in bringing you all here? I hope I did."
"I think so. The reason I'm here is that we need your help."
"With what? I'm not going back out there any time soon if that's what you need."
"No. Philip said you could help us convince the other council members to accept us, here."
She threw a piece of plastic into the fire and got up.
"Yeah I can. I'll do my best. Stick by my side meanwhile. The people around here get weird if they see a stranger walking around alone." she added, as they walked deeper into the neighborhood.
"Where are we going first?"
"I thought we could do the easy stuff first. We'll go with Bella, she's more in charge of organizing stuff around here. I don't know why she's even in charge of anything," she growled.
"Why's that?"
"Her mindset is old world. When the little kids are around, she gets pissed if we talk about Walkers or just anything in general. I mean they have to learn about it one day, it's pointless in hiding it from them."
"I guess so."
"Yeah. But she's easy to read, once she's on board, so are the others. No need to talk to them."
It didn't take long for them to convince her to support the arrival of the group. Clementine didn't know what was going on inside the house, since she was waiting outside, but she did hear Shelby defending them from her after she tried to say otherwise.
She walked out minutes later. "Did it go good?"
"I guess you could hear from in there. She didn't approve, but once I told her you had weapons and supplies, she gave in."
"Supplies?" From what she knew, all they had was what was on their backs, which wasn't alot.
"Just keep quiet about it. She won't notice." They walked deeper into the neighborhood, which seemed more secure then any other place they've been before.
"Where do we sleep?"
"Yeah, about that.."
"I have my own place, to myself. I guess you can crash there. It's a pretty big house, so I'll stay out of your way if you want. But sharing is caring," she replied, as they headed back to the main hall where the rest of the group was.
"So, Lee. I'm hoping we can stay on good terms, as we have agreed. The council has agreed to let your group remain here. I hope you'll be a good asset to us?"
"We'll do what we can to help around." Added Claire, who liked the idea of not having to keep moving on the road, without a stable place.
"We recommend not being out of the walls after night, for obvious reasons. But you're free to go around, maybe exploring the area." Philip gave them a duffel bag with some stuff for all of them as Shelby led them back towards the house, which wasn't far. It was pretty big, there were several rooms, with a TV in the living room and a clean couch. The windows had the shades drawn.
"So do we just choose the rooms?" Asked Carter. The house itself reminded him of the farm.
"I guess. There's some stuff in the fridge, if you want any. The TV works, but everything is on a loop." said Shelby, as she threw herself on the couch, removing the holster from her leg that was holding the pistol.
"How does the TV and all the other stuff work?" Asked Mika.
"There's solar generators on the roof. They were here when I got here, but they only work with direct light, so if it's like cloudy it won't work."
Everyone went to the rooms to organize themselves, while Clem and Mika stayed on the couch with her. She wanted to make a friend, not only that, she wanted to be on her good side.
"Earlier, you said they were here when you got here. When was that?"
"Long time now. When I got here, the walls weren't up, it was pretty vulnerable."
"Those walls look pretty hard to set up. How long did that take?" Asked Mika.
"Long time. Philip started to help put them up when the military stopped broadcasting on the radio. That's when we knew there was no help coming. So we took hands into ourselves."
"That's a while ago." Silence took over as it started to get late and darker. They both said their goodbyes as they went to bed. Clem had gotten used to being close to Lee, so they shared a large room that they had found. The rest of the group members stayed close, just in case. Clem put her pistol under her pillow, but didn't let go of it. She didn't know if they were to be trusted yet.
She woke up later in the morning, before anyone else. She went downstairs to check the fridge. She missed seeing fresh food, all she saw was old and canned food. she sighed as she took out a few cans.
"Its non-perishable." said Shelby, as she came in from the back door.
"Which means?"
"It doesn't go bad. So it's good to eat if that's what you're wondering."
Zoey met them down in the kitchen, along with the rest of the group some time later.
"What do you usually do around here?"
"Well, they don't really want me to do anything. They think I'm some sort of treasure or whatever. But I'm a scout, even though they don't want to."
"And what exactly is there to scout out there?" Asked Emile, sarcastically.
"Alot of stuff. Like that building I saved you from? I've been looking over it for some days. That's a example."
"I also retrieve stuff. I do runs into towns and all that with another scout. They don't let me do much, but I try to."
"When is the next run?" Asked Mike. He remembered that they had left most of their supplies in the car, when the horde came through.
"Uh.. I don't know. Why?" Coach proceeded to tell her.
Shelby crossed her arms. "And is it worth it? Because if it isn't, whatever you had back there you can easily replace it at the market, here. If that's not the case, then... I'll see what we can do." They all walked out of the house. There were more people out in the area, most of them wearing winter clothing. The sky was gloomy and cloudy, signs of some sort of heavy rain or snow.
" It's good to see you Lee. I hope the area is alright?" Asked Philip, who approached him directly.
"It's certainly a upgrade from where we've been sleeping the last few weeks."
"There is something I feel like your group and I should discuss. Come in." They all looked at each other and entered the main hall of the office.
"What's the matter?"
"One of the girls, Shelby. She's the one you've been in contact with the most. She's also one of the most quiet ones."
"She's opening up to us, yeah." added Mika.
"But that doesn't matter. What matters are the walkers you all saw when she found you. Where they alot?"
"We can't lie on this, it looked like thousands. We saw a horde back down in Georgia, but we don't know if it's the same one."
"That's most likely the case. They follow the noise, especially if it's a engine." Philip began to pace the room.
"Our walls can hold off dozens of walkers. But I don't know if it can handle more."
"Who's to say that the horde is coming this way?" Asked Claire.
"We can't be sure. I'd rather make sure they steer clear of the place."
"How on earth do you plan on doing that?" Asked Dalvin. The idea of diverting a walker horde seemed like a suicide mission.
"You all know how to defend yourselves. We have our own group of men and women who are experts at it too."
"What're you getting at?"
"You, with our people, some of them at least, are going to find the horde, and divert it the other way, keeping us safe."
"Okay.. First of all, we need to actually find out if they are heading this way, that way we can actually know. If not, then why mess around with the dead?" added Amanda, which was a valid reason.
Philip sighed.
"Right. We'll wait. We have our guards. If they notice or see them close, then you know what to do. We all meet here, IF, they happen to get too close."
It seemed as if the horde was following them everywhere. They were basically around since the Wanderers attack, and before that also. Diverting them the other way would keep them away, at least for the moment.