Lee watched the two girls further ahead, both with pistols in hand as they shot toward some glass bottles.
Alice was a little closer, while Brenda was slightly further back.
Lee didn't quite know what to think of the girls, they were... complex.
Alice, although acting in a childish way most of the time, occasionally gave him a strange look. Occasionally he would see her with a dark look on her face, whenever he killed a zombie.
He might be going crazy, but she seemed to enjoy watching him kill. He wouldn't forget the small smile the girl gave him when he killed those men a few days ago. Maybe it was out of relief, but something inside him said otherwise.
That slight thought made him a little worried. In a world like that, it wouldn't be hard for a suffering person to change completely, to take a taste for killing, for example. Especially a child who had suffered unimaginable things.
Well, other than that, the girl didn't seem to be turning into a psychopath... at least, Lee hoped so.
Brenda, on the other hand, was a little more direct with her feelings.
Just before Lee handed her the pistol, they talked for a while. Brenda said that she always wanted to kill the people in the camp, always wanted to learn to kill for that purpose, but never really had the chance.
The girl thanked him for saving her, and for teaching her how to shoot.
She opened up a little more after that, but he still felt that she was somewhat distant, at least in relation to Alice, who seemed more and more attached to him.
Unlike Alice, Brenda did not accept Lee's help in shooting, saying that she had already seen how it was done.
In a way, when she acted in that childish way, Alice reminded him of Clementine.
Lee snapped out of his thoughts when the sound of gunfire echoed through the trees, his brown eye focused on Brenda, who complained softly as she missed another shot.
Lee sighed, slightly amused. She had spent a while just aiming the gun at the glass bottles, and when she finally fired, she missed.
It was kind of funny to see someone focus so hard just to hit some empty bottles.
He moved away from the tree he was leaning on and walked towards the girl, who had a frustrated expression on her face.
- Don't lock your elbows.
He said, startling the girl a little at his sudden appearance. He touched her arms gently, feeling her tremble at his touch.
He was still outraged at what they had been through, and for such long-suffering people, and yet so young, they were strong.
Anyone would go crazy if they had been through what the girls had been through.
- You're too tense, relax your body a little more.
He said gently, pulling the girl's arm back a little more gently, letting her get used to his touch.
- No need to breathe so hard, it will make the gun shake. Breathe slowly, smoothly, calm.
He said, pulling the girl's arms a little to the side, making sure the glass bottle was in the gun's sights, and then stepped away.
- If it helps, before you shoot, hold your breath, your arms won't shake so much.
He said, looking at the glass claw a few meters ahead.
The girl was a bit stubborn, he tried to make her shoot closer, but she insisted on doing it from a distance.
She did as he instructed, her eyes focused on her target. As soon as she felt ready, she pulled the trigger.
Another shot echoed through the trees, and a glass bottle shattered into a thousand pieces.
Lee looked at her with a slight smile, even a hint of pride. The girl still looked at the bottle on the ground, still trying to process the information that she had hit her target.
- See, it's not that hard. Just stay calm. Good shot.
He said, placing his hand gently on the girl's shoulder, who smiled slightly in his direction.
- That's not fair! I hit it too!
Alice's sweet voice caught Lee's attention, and he turned around to find the girl staring at him, her arms crossed.
He smiled amusedly at her, it was amazing how she could act so childish one moment, and have such a dark aura the next.
Or when she acted so childish, but sounded so mature moments later.
The world really had changed people, children were becoming less and less childish.
When he finds Clementine, his "mission" won't be over yet. He will fight with all his might to be able to give her the childhood she has lost.
He will look for a quiet, peaceful place, maybe with other people the same age as her.
Anything to make her feel like a child again.
Lee knew he was thinking of the almost-impossible. A place like that, in the world he was in, was almost non-existent. But still, there was that small chance that he might actually achieve it.
An almost zero chance, but a chance nonetheless.
- You're a good shot too.
He said, placing his hand on the girl's head.
Brenda stared at Lee talking to Alice, not paying attention to the conversation itself, only to him. Her mind was a mess, and due to the circumstances, she would say that Alice had attached herself too quickly to a complete stranger.
But, the situation was getting harder and harder for her too, since, just like the younger girl, she was also becoming attached to him.
After everything she had been through, he was different, or at least he appeared to be different.
Maybe it wasn't so strange to become attached to him so quickly. Lee saved them both, twice.
He shared his food, taught them how to protect themselves, helped them.
By the standards of the world today, and all that both she and Alice had been through, this was extremely generous and kind of him.
Generosity and kindness were rare things in those days.
Lee looked at Alice in the rearview mirror of the car. The girl was sleeping peacefully in the back seat.
He then took a quick look to the side, and Brenda was also sleeping peacefully on the seat beside him, her head resting on her arm, which served as a pillow.
He sighed slightly and looked back at the road. Driving with only one hand was a bit awkward, to say the least.
Turning the wheel wasn't really a problem, the problem was to change gears, at least at first, he had to be quick about it, and careful not to overturn the car.
But after a while it became easy, just be careful.
He stayed focused on the road for a while, feeling his mind being flooded with thoughts.
A few days ago, maybe a week, maybe a little longer. Molly died, Kenny disappeared, he killed some unknown people and saved two girls, and now he was traveling with these same girls to a community in which he didn't even know if it was real or not.
It was kind of funny, looking at it another way. It looked like a script from a movie, or one of the books he had read before.
Lee mentally hoped that he would be able to meet Kenny on the way, he was sure that his friend had thought the same thing and left for Wellington, it was the best way for them to meet again.
- Don't you feel afraid of them?
Brenda's sudden voice brought Lee out of his thoughts, and he looked at the girl beside him, slightly surprised.
- "Them?"
He asked, confused by the sudden question, until his eye fell on some zombies standing in the road ahead, who started walking towards the car as soon as they heard the roar of the engine.
- Yes, from the dead. You look at them as if they were nothing.
She answered after a few moments of silence, they had been together for some time, and so far, few of her questions had been answered. Although he had already answered that question when they met, as soon as Alice asked him.
But for some reason, she was still surprised at how causally he looked at the dead.
She couldn't help but feel curious about the mysterious man who was practically taking care of her.
- There's no reason for me to be afraid. They are dumb, they are slow, predictable, easy to kill. Stay away from them, and you'll be fine.
He replied, dodging the bodies that were trying to cling to the car, taking a quick glance in the rearview mirror as he passed them.
-What about the people?
she asked softly, settling into the passenger seat and staring at the road.
- I've dealt with them enough to learn to fear them. You have to be afraid of people, they are unpredictable, unstable, and can be worse than the dead. But, I got used to dealing with them.
He answered, almost immediately. It was practically a fact, the living were more dangerous to the living, than the dead.
At that point, people used the dead to their advantage. Zombies would no longer be anything but killing tools for the living.
He knew that very well, because he himself had used the dead as weapons.
-... Your body is full of scars.
She said, looking at Lee's face, more specifically at the few scars that were visible underneath all that beard.
- Yeah... and I will probably have many more. Consequence of dealing with humans.
He replied. He even liked the scars, they reminded him of what he had gone through to get there, what he had gone through to stay alive, of all the sacrifices he had made.
Each scar was a story, a sin he had committed.
And his body was covered with several.
-I have scars too... it wasn't the dead who made them.
She said in a sad tone, which made Lee look at her for a few moments, not knowing in what way he could comfort her.
-... People are cruel. They are awful. There are only two kinds of people left in this world. The suffering, and those who have become worse than the dead.
Lee said, dodging a few more zombies along the road, and passing over one in particular that was on the ground.
And strange enough, he found it strangely satisfying to walk over that rotten head.
-... You're not awful, and you don't look like you're suffering.
Brenda said, and that was the first time that night that she looked deep into his eye.
Lee sighed at hearing that, he, more than anyone, knew that he was a perfect combination of the two.
-Brenda, I am awful. You have no idea. I may not look like it, but the truth is that I know who I am.
He said, slowing down when he saw a farm up ahead, stopping on the shoulder while waiting for dawn, where the first rays of sunlight could already be seen shining on the horizon.
Lee fixed the pistol on his belt and turned off the car, turning to Brenda soon after.
- I am a murderer, cruel, I am unhinged. I am a sick man, in my own way. And the worst of all of this, is that I have accepted who I am. Killing, stealing, that's easy for me.
He said, looking deep into Brenda's eyes, as he leaned back in his seat, looking at the horizon,
The girl was silent for a while, thinking about his words. But she didn't look away from him, she continued to stare at him, even though she was trapped in her own thoughts.
-... Are you capable of raping a child?
The question caught Lee off guard. He turned to her with arched eyebrows, surprised, somewhat incredulous.
Just the thought of it made him sick to his stomach, disgusted. This was sickening on several levels beyond what he was, and he hoped he would never reach that level.
He would kill himself before he allowed himself to decline that far.
- No!
he answered, almost immediately. Due to the somewhat troubled thought, he answered a little louder than he wanted, and looked back, being a little more relieved to see that Alice was still asleep.
- Would he be capable of raping a woman in front of other people? Watch a man being eaten alive by zombies and just laugh at his face? Cut off a woman's legs and feed them to her children? Beating an old man to death and throwing his body in a ditch, where they throw all the camp's garbage? Cut open the abdomen of a still-living man and remove his organs one by one, right in front of his eyes?
She looked at Lee again, finding it mildly amusing that his incredulous expression contorted with every word she said.
- So you're not awful, Lee. Compared to the people in the camp we were in, you look more like an angel.
She said, putting her legs on the bench and hugging them, while resting her head on her knees.
Lee looked at her in disbelief, indignant. Even a little surprised at the human cruelty, wondering how someone could get to that sick level, how someone could decay so much.
Hell would be too good of a place for that kind of person, they deserved worse.
Lee looked forward, still a little affected by what he had just heard.
His mind immediately thought of Clementine, what if the girl met people like that? She and Alice were about the same age, what if something similar happened to her?
He didn't even want to think about it, and he knew well that if something like that happened to her, he would kill every last one of the bastards who did it, he would kill even the people who were not directly involved in it. He would kill them all, until there were none left.
-... Well, now even I want to kill those people.
He said after a while.
Lee, while still holding his beliefs firm in the depths of his being, knew very well that he was good at killing, and the more encounters with humans he had, the more horrible things he saw, the more he embraced who he was.
A good killer, that's what he was. That was Lee Everett, a man really good at killing, and with each passing day, the more he came to terms with that...
The better he got.
It was very rare for him to kill by will, very rare for him to let his murderous intent take over his decisions.
But after hearing that, after thinking that those people might very well do the same thing to Clementine, if he found other members of that community, he would kill them, without hesitation, without blinking, without asking questions.
- Now I can kill them. I can kill everyone who threatens me again, thanks to you.
She said with a slight smile, a few seconds after Lee finished saying.
Brenda picked up the knife, which used to belong to one of the men Lee had killed, and remembered the little "lesson" she had had with the man next to her.
She learned not only how to shoot, but how to use a knife as well. How to immobilize a man, how to kill a man. She didn't even know how many times she dreamed of learning that.
-Don't thank me, these are things you have to learn if you want to stay alive.
He answered, looking at Alice, who had just woken up, in the back seat.
- Good morning princess.
Lee said, smiling when he saw the disheveled girl with a sleepy and confused look on her face.
-What were you two talking about?
She asked, leaning between the two front seats and bending her body.
- That we are about to go get breakfast. Get your things and let's go.
Lee said, opening the driver's door and getting out of the car, watching through the window as Alice picked up her pistol and her knife, tucking them both into her waistband.
The girl got out of the car and looked at him, as if she was just waiting for his "permission".
He turned and walked towards the farm, observing the abandoned place, and stopping his eyes for a few moments in the barn a few meters beside the house.
Lee picked up his knife as he looked out the window of the house, spotting a few motionless bodies inside.
He walked to the side and tried to open the door, but it was locked.
He looked both ways, it wouldn't hurt to make a little more noise in there, so he stepped back a few steps and kicked the door.
A kick strong enough to break the door lock, and make the wooden object fall to the side.
Lee looked to the side again, if there were any zombies around, they would be attracted by the noise. Usually in places like that, away from the city, there weren't many zombies around, and it was a good thing that they made some noise, so they didn't run the risk of being caught by surprise.
Three bodies rose up inside the house.
A man, of advanced age apparently, was the first to come out of the room and walk towards them. Almost the entire left side of his body had been devoured, leaving the bones of his arms and half of his torso exposed. His ribs "protected" the little that was left of his organs, now rotten and with pieces missing.
Brenda walked over to him, positioning herself precisely to the left, as it would make it very difficult for him to grab her. In one swift movement, she stabbed him in the head, watching his deformed body fall to the ground.
Alice walked through the kitchen, where her eyes focused on the next zombie. Both legs of what had once been a woman had only bones left, the flesh of her mouth was long gone, worms crawled through her rotting teeth and gums, and she crawled with difficulty toward the girl.
Alice watched her for a while, somewhat curious, even interested. When the woman came close enough, the girl killed her quickly, stabbing her knife in the middle of her forehead.
Lee's eyes focused on the last remaining zombie, this one appeared to be younger than the other two, as well as less disturbing in appearance.
He had a bite mark on his neck, probably the son of the other two zombies, he was bitten and returned home not knowing what would happen. It attacked his parents, devoured them for a while.
Lee sighed, it was a sad thing to think about, that three people, probably innocent, were still trapped in that corrupted form.
Lee just stabbed him in the temple, pushing the zombie's body backwards soon after.
He looked at the two girls, who were watching the place.
- How's it going?
He asked, looking at Alice, who had a strange glint in her eye.
- Yeah, they're no big deal.
She answered, smiling.
- Okay, you two check down here, stay close to each other, I'll check the floor above. If necessary, don't hesitate to shoot.
Lee said, crossing the room and walking toward the stairs ahead.
