Scott ran a hand along his lower chin and thought about the Rv back at camp, Kenny was trying like hell to get it working and if he got him the belt, it'd definitely help, yet, he wasn't sure if it was the best call. Taking the time out to get a new belt, filling his pack with something considered non essential, and showing support at all for Kenny's coast idea, would sure to piss Lilly off. This train of thought instantly brought Scott to the woman in question, this is one of the only times he'd been given a chance to talk to Lilly without her father around, and perhaps it'd be best to take it and smooth things over between them.
Scott picked up his pace and moved past both Lee and Andre who vigilantly were looking behind them and the woods around them for any disturbance, making his way up to Lilly's side. The woman in a near instant turned her head and gave him a dry, slightly suspicious look, "What?" She snapped out,
"Look, I just figured since we had a bit of a trek ahead of us, we could take a minute to talk about what's been going on between us," Scott calmly replied only to receive a roll of the eyes from Lilly,
"What the fuck, are we in sixth grade?" Lilly sarcastically retorted, "We don't need to talk about our feelings, Scott, we have a job to do that will keep us alive. Simple as that,"
"Lilly, C'mon, ever since the day we met, you and I haven't seen exactly eye to eye, but that doesn't mean we have to be enemies," Scott replied in earnest,
"We're not enemies, I just don't like you, alright?" Lilly replied while turning her head and focusing on the road ahead of her. Scott let out a sharp exhale and did the same, a frown forming on his face from the response. A few minutes passed before Lilly surprisingly broke the silence, "I don't think you're an asshole," She lamented, "But when I needed you to back me up in the drugstore last month, you hung me out to dry too many times. Not to fucking mention you tried to fight my father," The brunette fumed, "I know you helped save his life, but you drew a line in the sand on where you stood with us, and it's pretty clear you see him...us as a couple of monsters,"
"That's not true," Scott instantly replied, "Everything I've done, has been for the safety of our group. You and I both knew that Erin was going to die and we needed to deal with it, but I handled it my way. You don't have the wrong ideas, but you can't just handle everything with an iron fist,"
Lilly let out a scoff, "You let emotions get in the way, and that leaves you vulnerable. No, you need to be cold and tough sometimes to make the hard calls no one else can,"
"Yeah, maybe, but not every call has to be done that way," Scott lightly argued back, "You and your dad are survivors, and I know that you're doing whatever you have to do to keep each other alive, and that means keeping everyone at an arm's length," He continued watching Lilly readjust her pack and slightly lower her head, "Your dad and I, I know we aren't gonna be getting along anytime soon, and that's fine, I can live with that. But if you're the only one who can reign him in when you have too, then I don't want to be seen as an enemy because I'm not."
"Then fucking prove it," Lilly finally sighed, "You want to show me that I can trust you? Then earn my trust, Scott. Show me that you really want to protect our group, make a sacrifice for our safety rather than trying to just be the good guy. Do that, then we'll talk," Lilly picked up her pace just a bit more, leaving Scott behind her, making it clear their conversation was done.
Scott slowed down a little, soaking in Lilly's words and softly shaking his head. To some extent he understood what she was saying, but at the same time it was hard to accept it, each day things were getting harder out here but to bring everything down to the callous nature Larry and Lilly seemed to believe in wasn't an easy one. Regardless, at least Lilly opened up to him a bit, and if anything he knew what she expected from him in the future.
"Shit walker!" Andre suddenly exclaimed causing the others to halt and look back to him, spotting a walker lumbering out of the woods towards him,
"I got it," Lee quickly called out and jogged over, whacking the walkers head with the blade of his ax, sending it to the ground with a thud, "Good eye, Andre, thing could've snuck up on one of us,"
"No problem, think it was just a shambler, I don't see anymore," Andre nodded while slowly scanning the treeline,
"If we're lucky it'll stay that way," Scott nodded,
"Let's pick up the pace then," Lilly interjected, "The quicker we get to the base the better, every minute we take is leaving us exposed to these kinds of threats,"
The four survivors turned back up the road and took off in a steady jog, gaining some distance for a while before slowing down and catching their breaths. Keeping at this pace for the next few hours kept the group a bit tired but cut the time for their journey by at least an hour or more. Despite this advantage however, it still took the group close to four hours to reach the outskirts of the airbase.
Lilly pulled the three men off the main road and into some overbrush a few yards away from the entrance of the base. Kneeling down, Lilly reached into her pack and pulled out a pair of binoculars, passing them over to Scott, "Take a look, tell me what you see out there," Lilly commanded.
Scott took the binoculars and peered through them. Take view, Scott scanned around the area, starting with the front gate. With only a small guard post in the center of the road with a few car blocks, the gate was hardly defenablse, though it looked clear. That being said, Scott still took the time to scan over the surrounding metal wire fence. Following along the left side he noticed a car had busted through the fence and crashed into a building further inside.
"What's going on Scott?" Lee whispered,
"The front entrance is wide open but looks like a car took out a portion of the fence over there towards the back, we could get in either way," Scott replied,
"What about the base itself, walkers?" Andre asked back,
Scott put the binoculars back up and focused on looking through the fence and into the interior of the base. It wasn't long before he spotted the shuffling of a few dozen bodies, the mindless wandering of the dead was unmistakable, "Shit, the place is overrun for sure, I can see a bunch of them. They are spread out but if we get spotted or make too much noise we'll get boxed in just like back in the drugstore,"
Andre calmly pulled his shotgun from off his shoulder and double checked that the weapon was locked and loaded, "Had a feeling it wasn't gonna be as simple as walking in and out,"
"Okay, yeah, it's risky but it's either we take a risk or we starve to death, I don't know about you three but I'd rather the quick death than a slow one," Lilly muttered back,
"I'd rather neither," Lee dryly replied, "Right well how should we do this? Where are we even going?"
Lilly pointed out to a building that was deeper into the base, "That's the commissary, we'd get to it quicker if we went in through the front entrance but it'd leave us exposed," Lilly explained, "If we head in through the fence we could still get there but we'd be stuck outside longer,"
"So it's either a mad dash through the front door or sneaking around the back hoping nothing sees us," Scott replied with a slow exhale,
"Your call, just make one and let's get this on the road," Lilly said while checking over her weapon as well.
Scott glanced between his three fellow survivors, together they were well equipped and capable of dealing with walkers. If they charged through the front it wouldn't be a death sentence, they could make it to the commissary, and maybe even do it without attracting the entire horde. And even if they did, with their guns, good aim, and Lee's ax, they could deal with some of the resistance.
That being said, sneaking through the fence towards the back seemed like a safer option, as long as they kept vigilant once inside they might be able to get to the commissary without firing a shot and attracting a thing...as long as everything stayed as simple as it seemed. Scott let out a slow breath, "Alright, this is what we're doing," Scott announced after a minute.
What Does Scott Decide?
A) Rush The Front Entrance
B) Sneak Through The Broken Fence
Relationship Status:
Lilly 6/10 - Lilly feels the air was cleared a little between you both but still needs you to prove yourself to her to gain trust.
Lee 8/10 - Lee is ready to get this over with, and hopes whatever call you make works out
Andre 10/10 - He'll back whichever choice you make but is ready for a frontal assault if need be
A/N: Sorry for the wait on this chapter, I wanted to take a short break after the last chapter and then the last chapter vote ended up getting deadlocked for a while and I don't like having to make the deciding vote myself as it feels wrong in a community voting fic. Still in the end, I flipped a coin to decide which would win and it ended up being talk to Lilly, hope you all enjoyed it.