Scott sat up in his seat, slowly looking around the humvee interior. Lilly had her eyes sharply focused on the road, Mark absently stared out the window while Andre was slumped in the center seat. The officer was asleep, his breathing steady, but it was clear to understand where his exhaustion was coming from. Scott then turned his head and brought his attention to the rearview mirror where he found Lee's uncertain eyes looking back at him.
"You alright?" Scott calmly asked and Lee blinked a few times, quickly looking away,
"Fine, happy we made it out of there in one piece is all," Lee dryly replied,
"You sure?" Scott leaned forward in his seat, "You've been - We've had a bit of a conflicting day, Lee,"
"Listen man, I'm not trying to get into anything with you," Lee easily replied, "Things didn't run smooth but we're all alive, and we're bringing home plenty of food, that's more than enough for me,"
"You know I didn't like leaving Andre back on that runway," Scott immediately clarified, "I didn't want to and I don't know how I would be reasoning with myself if something had happened to him because of that call,"
"No sense in thinking like that," Lilly suddenly interjected, "We all make choices and then we deal with what happens because of them. Thinking of what could have happened is just a waste of fucking time." The brunette firmly finished, and for once, Scott felt that her words weren't in condemnation for what he had said, rather in a form of some kind of support.
"Hell…right call, wrong call, does that even fucking exsist anymore?" Lee lowly continued as he turned in his seat, looking back at Scott, "Look, I'm sorry I was hard on you today, you did things that I might not have done myself, but…but we're all alive right now. I can't deny that. Lilly's right about not thinking about what if's. So I'm just not gonna. What happened today, happened. End of story. We keep on, just the same," The black man finished with a firm nod,
"Thanks Lee, I appreciate it," Scott thankfully replied as the pair both sat back in their seats, waiting and resting until they were finally back home.
"Hey Mark," Lee suddenly asked causing the mechanic to jump slightly before looking over at the man, "You were at the base this whole time?"
"Pretty much, holding on by a prayer towards the end there," Mark nodded back,
"Then, if you were on the base since all hell broke loose. What was it like? You know, with the military? Did you guys hear anything or…" Scott and even Lilly looked back at Mark, all three looking at the man with a mixture of worry, hope, and even fear.
"It was all…chaos," Mark finally replied, "From the first day things started getting back the base went on lockdown…" The mechanic began, using the remainder of the drive to explain his story, and beyond that, let everyone else in the humvee know one sad truth. The military didn't have a single fucking hold on the situation from the getgo.
An hour later, the humvee finally rolled in to the front of the motor inn, "Oh what the fuck?" Scott quickly sat forward from Lilly's words, looking out the windshield along with others spotting at least half a dozen dead walkers dotting the streets as well as a few inside the base. However, despite everything, the group inside seemed very calm and relaxed,
"Must have gotten hit while we were out," Lee's eyes darted around, scanning the motor inn,
"Everyone looks alright?" Scott added on while Lilly pulled the truck to the side, "Andre man," He gave the officer a light nudge with his arm and Andre stirred, slowly waking, "C'mon, Katjaa needs to get a look at you,"
"S-Sounds good," Andre weakly agreed.
Exiting the vehicle the five survivors entered the motor inn and immediately the group came rushing over. "Lee!" Clementine was the first to exclaimed, running over and leaping into the mans arms while Kenny gave Scott a friendly nod,
"Andre, my god, what happened?!" Carly exclaimed while Katjaa wasted no time in running over to tend to him,
Andre glanced to Mark for a moment before merely shaking his head, "Stupid accident…I'm fine,"
"Jesus, what the fuck did y'all bring back with ya?" Kenny motioned to the humvee,
"Little bonus with our food," Scott chuckled, "And we got plenty of that too,"
"We did," Lilly agreed after she finished giving her father a hug, "Scott…Scott did great out there, Lee and Andre too. Wasn't totally smooth, but could have gone way worse,"
Larry stepped to Scott looking him up and down for a moment, and as Scott prepared for one snarky remark or another, Larry merely let out a huff, "And who the hell is that?" The man asked, thumbing over to Mark,
"M-Mark," The mechanic nervously introduced, "I was at the base…your friends here saved me,"
"Heh, that's rich…" Larry retorted, "You can go whenever you're done pissing around here," He lazily added turning and waving him off,
"Someone want to explain what the hell happened here?" Lilly asked as she moved to a fallen walker inside the camp and gave it a small nudge with her boot, "They got inside?"
"It wasn't something we let happen on purpose, Lilly," Kenny retorted in a slightly defensive tone, "Y'all left, we were light handed when these group of dead fucks started shambling up the road,"
"Thank God we had Carly here," Doug breathed out in relief as he gave his girlfriend a pride filled, respectful look, "I don't know if we'd all still be here if it wasn't for her dead eye."
"Knew it was a good call to leave one of us behind," Andre grinned at Carly, "Camp needs a good shot,"
"Just doing my part," Carly nonchalantly replied with a shrug, "But looking at that thing," The reporter looked at the large machine gun attached to the humvee, "I think we'll be pretty damn safe here,"
"Don't thank us, really we got this thanks to Mark. He repaired it over the last few weeks while on the base, and then told us about it." Scott gave the mechanic a thankful glance,
"How about the food? You said you got plenty, but what's that really mean?" Kenny inquired with a raised brow,
"It means we got what we could, close to a few months, three if we really stretched it." Lilly immediately snapped back at the man, "Things got hectic, there were some looters, bandits, whatever you might call them that attacked us. Andre and Scott's quick thinking got rid of them but the rest of the food at the station…it's gone,"
"Whaddya mean it's gone?" Kenny frowned, crossing his arms,
"The bandits, they were trying to burn us up with a cocktail, instead it went into the building…things probably still burning right now," Andre grunted back as Katjaa was now carefully wrapping up his wounded shoulder,
"Hell…we could've used every last crumb over here," Kenny lowly sighed, giving a thoughtful eye to Clementine and Duck who were already back playing with chalk a few feet away,
"We tried our best, Kenny, things went sideways," Lee replied with some equal sympathy, "The important thing to remember right now is to be thankful for what we did get, and what we have to defend our camp now,"
"You can say that again," Larry suddenly jumped back in, the first and probably only smile the entire group had ever seen resting on the old mans face as he inspecting the humvee, "You may have dropped the fucking ball with the food, but this…this is exactly what we needed." Larry eyed Scott once more, "Good work."
Scott's brow raised, praise from Larry being the last thing he expected, "R-Right, thanks, but uh, before we all get to unpacking here, we still have one thing to talk about," Scott stepped to Mark's side, "We found him out there alone, and well, I think he's proved himself as more than capable."
"Wait, wait, no offense pal, but we can't just bring in another mouth to feed when we just found out our food is going to be tighter than we anticipated," Kenny immediately spoke up,
"I agree…we need to think of the children's well being first," Katjaa tacked on,
Thankfully, Larry was far too entranced with the mounted machine gun to air his opinion on the matter, and thus, Lilly was able to speak freely on the matter. Looking between Kenny and Katjaa, then back to Mark and Scott, she crossed her arms, "I'm not sure if we could have done this without Mark at the end of the day, and the humvee is his after all. We talked about it in the car and on the base. He stays. Lee, Andre, you have any problems with that?"
"None," Lee immediately replied,
"If Scott says he's cool, then that's good enough for me," Andre nodded,
"Completely agreed, we can't just send him off alone," Carly tacked on while Doug nodded happily,
"Kenny, Katjaa, sorry…you're out voted here," Scott apologetically replied to the couple who let our a reluctant if not slightly fumed shake of their heads,
"Thank you guys, I mean it, I'll pull my weight around here, I promise! You won't regret this!" Mark happily exclaimed,
"Then started by helping us get the food out of the truck," Lilly sharply ordered, and Mark all but jumped to work, heading right to the back of the humvee,
Scott crossed his arms, looking around the motor inn, noting the fallen walker corpses before his eyes landed back on the humvee, "I sure hope this whole this is handled before that food runs out…" He softly murmured to himself before stepping forward, going to lend a hand unloading as well
Doug - Alive - 9/10 - You Left Doug Feeling Hopeful: Returning to the base with food, a vehicle with a mounted weapon, and a new member for the group, Doug has high hopes for the future!
Other Possible Outcomes:
Dead - Had you not left either Andre or Carley behind to stay on watch at the motor inn the walker attack while you were gone wouldn't have been handled as efficiently and Doug would have been bitten.
Carley - Alive - 8/10 - You Left Carley Feeling Capable: Leaving Carley behind to protect the motor inn turned out to be a great decision. She was able to protect everyone when the walkers arrived and thus feels much more like a valued member of the team. She was equally impressed with what you returned with.
Lilly - Alive - 7/10 - You Left Lilly Feeling Amicable: The scavenging run to the air force base wasn't exactly smooth when you first left but by the end of the run, you struck some common ground with Lilly. You two aren't best friends by any means, but she is clearly warming to you.
Larry - Alive - 5/10 - You Left Larry Feeling Impressed: Larry is never going to like anyone, but you got the old man to say you did a good job. Bringing home the defenses and adding in Lilly's praise has made him at least cool off when it comes to looking at you. Only time will tell how long this will last.
Mark- Alive - 8/10 - You left Mark Feeling Grateful: Mark knew he met your group in the worst possible way, but was so thankful you gave him a second chance that led to him joining the team. He knows he owes you one, and is intent on proving himself to you and everyone else in the group.
Other Possible Outcomes:
Unknown - Mark could have also been rejected from the group by a majority vote, or personal decision depending on how cold you were to him for shooting Andre. He would have been alive, but sent out on his own to an unknown end.
Dead - You also simply could have shot Mark dead for his attack on Andre in the tower. Lilly would have approved but Lee would have been horrified. And Mark never would have been able to tell you about the humvee.
Andre - Alive - 10/10 - You Left Andre Feeling Cautious: Andre's feeling of friendship for you never wavered throughout the run. He trusts your judgment and was beyond thankful you listened to him when he was shot. Despite having some personal reservations with Mark now, he accepts your call, but in the future he'll make sure to treat every trip outside the motor inn with the caution it deserves.
Other Possible Outcomes: Dead - If you didn't listen to Lilly's direction and Andre's pleading to focus on the sniper after he was shot, and instead went to help you would have started to drag Andre to cover. However, this would have ended in tragedy when Mark would have taken a second shot, putting a bullet through Andre's head. Furthermore, if you didn't have the humvee, and were stuck on foot, Andre would have been too slow to outrun the walkers and gotten devoured on the base.
Lee - Alive - 7/10 - You Left Lee Feeling Wary: It was not a smooth trip between you and Lee, you two disagreed on nearly every decision besides what to do with Mark. Thankfully you were able to talk to him and repair most of your relationship. Still; Lee isn't quite sure how to feel about you, but will try to hold no judgments.
Clementine - Alive - 7/10 - You Left Clementine Feeling Thankful: You brought Lee and food back home; that's all that matters to her right now, good job!
Kenny - Alive - 7/10 - You Left Kenny Feeling Indifferent: You and Kenny still remain on good terms but he isn't exactly happy with the fact that you didn't get as much food as you could have and instead brought another mouth to feed.
Katjaa - Alive - 6/10 - You Left Katjaa Feeling Frustrated: You brought home some food sure, but you admitted it wasn't as much as you would have liked and then you accepted Mark as another member. As cold as it might have seemed, she knows that the kids are the priority and right now, you went against that idea.
Duck - Alive - 6/10 - You Left Duck Feeling Uncertain: Once again Duck isn't sure what to think, you brought back food and a really cool gun, but his parents are mad at you, so he thinks he should be too. Overall the little boy isn't sure what to make of it and remains unchanged in his feelings for you.
Hello again guys, it's been a long time, but hey, I'm still around. So here is the finale for the mini special and coming up next will be the start of episode two, starved for help! Hope you guys will still be around to enjoy and vote on it!