Lee walked towards the back gate of the community. He was tired, not breathless, but spending hours and hours walking among the dead and stabbing his machete into their skulls was somewhat stressful to his body.
Although something simple, he felt as if he had spent a few hours in a gym, doing the same movement over and over again.
His gaze fell on Brenda, who was looking at him with an arched eyebrow while leaning on the wall with her arms crossed.
The girl alternated her gaze between him, and the hundreds of bodies lying on the ground, where a large team of people were mobilizing to pick up the bodies and form some pyres, setting them on fire afterwards.
- So I wake up, you're not there, and when I go looking for you, you're the newest subject of the village. I don't know whether to be surprised or angry that you left me alone.
She said as soon as Lee had come close enough. The man sighed slightly and turned around, watching the burning corpses a few meters away.
- Well, this is a safe enough place. And you were exhausted, you needed rest, I didn't want to wake you. Have you had breakfast yet?
He explained, and then asked, taking off the blood and organ stained blouse he was wearing, leaving his torso exposed.
-Yes, Zoey showed me the cafeteria.
The girl answered, looking at the scars on Lee's body, especially the three gunshot marks on his chest and abdomen.
There were cuts, gunshots, marks from old wounds all over his abdomen and back, which only gave credence to the things he had told her, and made her think about how he felt when he suffered those wounds.
- I have to say man. You're an enigma.
A woman approached his side. Lee turned around, looking curiously at Ana.
The woman was blonde, short in stature, green eyes that matched her pale skin. She had a surprised look on her face, and tried not to look at the scars on his body... at least not in a very obvious way.
- I'll take that as a compliment.
He said amused, watching Leo walk past him with a somewhat annoyed face. He didn't look very happy about having to carry bodies and more bodies to the huge bonfires.
- Don't mind him. Leo is known for always being pissed off. People try not to provoke him, because besides being a hot-headed jerk, he's a good fighter.
Ana said, turning away from Lee while taking a quick look at Leo's back.
- Hey Lee, after today, I say you deserve better than just a beer.
Victor said cheerfully, even though he was also tired. He was also shirtless, and his sweat mixed with the dried blood on his body.
- Hah, what do you have for me?
Lee asked amused, following Victor with his gaze as he walked through the gates into the compound.
- Some things, wine, rum, whiskey. I've been saving it for a special occasion. We'll discuss the details later, I need a shower.
Victor said, disappearing among the crowd of people entering and leaving the community.
Brenda, as soon as Victor disappeared from her line of vision, looked at Lee with a suggestive look.
- Can I have a drink too?
She asked, staring at Lee with an intensity in her gaze.
Lee arched an eyebrow as he put his hand on his waist, looking at her reproachfully, in a way, but slightly amused by the girl's gaze.
- You're too young to drink.
he said after a while, smiling as he saw the girl sigh.
- Come on, age, for some things, doesn't matter much anymore these days. I can shoot, but I can't drink?
she said, and Lee had to admit that was a good point.
- Age still matters for some things. Among them, drinking, you are too young.
He said, and the girl rolled her eyes.
- That's not fair...
- I know... okay, I'll let you have some wine... but only a little.
He said in defeat, sharing a complicit smile with the girl soon after.
- I'm not easily surprised, Lee, but you've made it seem otherwise since you arrived.
Lilly's voice interrupted the little moment the two of them were having. They turned toward the gate entrance, watching as Lilly approached with Ellen right beside her.
Both were looking curiously and with some interest at Lee.
- I have to admit that I wouldn't think of something like "that".
Ellen said, pointing to the piles of burning bodies a few meters away, without looking away from Lee.
- Well, what can I say... you have to adapt.
Lee said, making the two women smile slightly as they remembered the same words he had said earlier.
- Do you have any idea that you just wiped out a herd in a few hours, and no one got hurt?
Ellen asked, looking at Lee as if he didn't understand the magnitude of his actions.
- Yes. It's like I said before, zombies are easy to deal with. What I did here was no big deal, anyone with the right information would have done the same.
He said, looking at some of the members of the group he was in earlier who waved at him.
- If you say so. But keep in mind that now we can deal with the zombies without interrupting our work. Some groups will stay in the forest, keeping the dead from coming closer while we expand the village, this will speed up our work a lot. And I think I owe you something.
Ellen said, crossing her arms and looking at the pickups that were parked in the area with some materials in their trunks. She was wondering where they would leave the trucks in that place, but that was a problem to be solved later.
- A clean room, clean clothes, food, I think you've given me enough. You don't owe me anything.
He said, running his hand through his short beard, stained with a little blood.
- Yes, I do! Whatever you want, just ask! I'll do my best to get it.
She said, nodding slightly to Lee, who sighed in defeat and nodded back.
His gaze fell on Lilly, who was staring at his bare chest.
As soon as the woman noticed Lee's gaze on her, she pointed with her head to the scar on his torso.
- Were you shot?
She asked, but more affirming than asking, she knew the wound from a bullet.
- Yes... well, remember when I said I was wounded when Clementine was kidnapped? So... three bullets, one in my chest, and the last two in my abdomen.
He said, putting his finger over the scars as he explained, looking at his own body, and trying to remember the last time he saw it without so many wounds.
- And you survived...
Lilly said in a surprised tone, looking at the cut on Lee's stomach region.
- I was lucky, none of the bullets hit a major organ, and they were relatively easy to remove. Although it hurt like hell.
he said. Lee always thought of different reasons why he was alive.
He was supposed to have died, more than once, especially in the first months of the apocalypse.
He liked to think that he was alive by divine intervention. God allowed him to live because he still had work to do in the world of the living. He was alive because his time had not come, besides being one of the only plausible explanations, at least for him, that would explain his heart still beating in his chest.
- Well... whatever it is, it's good that you survived. You have the day off now, consider it a form of gratitude. And don't forget, whatever you need, you can ask for it.
Ellen said, before turning and walking towards the area.
Lilly waved to them both and turned, walking right behind Ellen.
-Lee?
Brenda called out suddenly from beside him, and Lee looked at her with an arched eyebrow, confused.
- You need a shower.
She said, and Lee giggled slightly at her, nodding to her as he began to walk into the village.
(A few hours later...)
Lee stared at the ceiling of his room with a slightly bored look on his face.
He even found the irony amusing. After so long asking for a room where he could rest without worrying about zombies or other people, he was bored when he found one.
It was somewhat ungrateful, to say the least.
But, maybe it wasn't necessarily boredom he was feeling, he no longer knew how to identify his feelings properly, they were all a mess.
They were all mixed up, and sometimes he felt things he shouldn't be feeling. Sadness turned into hostility, fear turned into anger, anger turned into hate.
And it was being somewhat difficult to distinguish and control these feelings. And with each passing day, he was feeling more and more on the edge of his sanity, even though bad things were not happening around him.
At least, not at the moment.
He needed to relax, and even tried to do so, but could not. His body simply refused to calm down.
Maybe that was what he had felt differently after he killed Alice, or maybe he had always been that way, but never realized it. Not until that moment.
Those conflicts always appeared in his mind as soon as he lay down to rest, or when he sat down to eat, never leaving his head.
Maybe he wasn't really "bored", maybe what he felt was a false feeling that his body had learned to do to fool his brain, to make him get up and do something to occupy his mind.
Maybe that was why he liked killing zombies so much, because out there, it was just him and the dead.
Just the zombies and the blade of his machete, he doesn't have to worry about anything else at times like this, his mind was only focused on one thing. Killing the zombie in front of him, and that' s it.
The door of the room was opened, and Lee turned his face slightly to the side, watching Brenda enter the room.
The girl had a much lighter expression than the day before, although still affected, she had found something to occupy her mind.
And in this case, that "something" was spending time with Zoey and some of her friends, an "all-girls" moment, something like that.
- Hey, how was it?
Lee asked, his voice huskier than usual. After the lunch he had with some of the members, he lay down on his bed and remained there immersed in his thoughts, without saying a single word or changing positions.
- It was quite fun, actually. Zoey taught me how to cut hair. A woman named Iris taught me how to cook, and Nicole taught me how to shoot a shotgun!
She said, more excited than Lee had seen her since he had met her. He smiled at the girl's light expression, quite different from the way she usually looked.
And he was thankful that he was right, all the girl needed was to interact with real good people. She would be fine there.
- This is great! It's indeed things you do in an "all-girls moment.
Lee said, mildly amused and with a hint of irony in his voice as he stared up at the ceiling again.
- Have you been here the whole time?
She asked, sitting down next to Lee as she looked at him curiously.
- Yes. I didn't feel much like going out and meeting new people, they all had their jobs to do.
He said, still looking up at the ceiling, but feeling the strange look the girl gave him.
- Scott found me while I was on my way here. He told the two of us to go to Victor's apartment in a little while. A little "welcome party" for us.
She said, running her eyes down the length and breadth of Lee's face. Still not used to seeing him so "different".
She had imagined a grouchy middle-aged man with a face full of holes and advanced expression lines. But she was surprised to see almost the opposite of what she had thought.
Although better, much better by the way, it was a little strange to see him without the beard. He even looked a little more "harmless" compared to the way he had looked a few days ago.
Lee turned his face to her, with an arched eyebrow.
- He's the one who said so.
She said as she noticed Lee's gaze on her.
He turned his face away again and sighed lightly, closing his eye as he searched for the will to get up.
- Well... let's not keep them waiting.
Lee said, stretching as he looked at the dark sky through the next window.
(...)
- I think this is the place.
Brenda said, looking at the apartment number in the center of the door, turning and looking at Lee, who was walking behind, somewhat hesitantly.
It had been a long time since he had been to a "party", and he certainly hadn't thought he would be attending one again, not in an apocalypse.
He didn't quite know how to act, he was slightly nervous, although he knew he had no reason to feel that way.
He shook his head and took a deep breath, running his hand through his hair as Brenda knocked three times on the door.
A few muffled voices were heard coming from inside the apartment, and without realizing it, Lee caught himself trying to identify how many.
From what he heard, there were obviously more people in that apartment, familiar voices. From the intensity, and the way in which one spoke over the other, he would say that six people were talking loudly. But from the footsteps, there were more than just six inside the apartment, he would guess a number closer to ten.
It was a rather closed place. From what he saw, there were only three exits. The main door, the back door, and the stairs to the roof.
The hallways were narrow, which could be good in case many crowded through the hallway, they could easily be slowed down by themselves.
At the front desk of the building there were only two people, who didn't seem very attentive to their jobs, whatever they were tasked to do.
Lee did not have his weapons with him at the moment, meaning that if anything happened, he would have to use the knives from inside the apartment. And in case the door was inaccessible due to something, he would have to jump out the window,
They were on the second floor, which meant that he wouldn't get hurt much if he used the downstairs windows as support, and jumped over the dumpster soon after.
Lee sighed at these thoughts, they were one of the reasons he could not relax.
He had gotten used to thinking too much. Overanalyzing, always expecting the worst, even in a safe place like that.
The door opened and Ana received them with a beautiful smile.
- You finally arrived, the others are already here.
She said gently, giving way to the two, who entered and looked around the apartment.
It was a big place, compared to the room they were in. And Lee remembered when Lilly told him about when they found this camp, they had been there for quite a while, always going out in search of supplies.
Probably the room was like a "status upgrade".
- Hello my zombie-taming friend! We've been expecting you.
Scott said in his typical animated way, getting up from the couch he was on and walking toward Lee with a glass of drink in his hands.
- Scott, are you drunk already?
Lee asked jokingly, looking at the glass in his friend's hands.
- I've barely started drinking. Come on, sit down... Can Brenda drink?
He asked, extending a glass towards Lee, and hesitantly as he extended it towards Brenda, looking at Lee with an arched eyebrow.
-She can drink a little, but only light stuff.
Lee said, and Scott turned around, placing the glass he had in hand on the table, and picking up another glass beside it, with a purple liquid inside.
- A fine wine, for a fine lady. I added a little water, is that good?
He asked, giving Brenda a playful wink and sitting down, looking at Lee soon after, drinking from his glass.
- I suppose so.
Lee answered and sat down on the sofa, looking at the people around him, who greeted them.
He was right in his deduction, there were eleven people in total, counting him and Brenda.
Scott, Victor, Zoey, Nicole, Amanda, the guard Filipe, Emilia, Eva, Ana and Igor.
All were people that Lee "worked" with, whether it was to save his own life, or to fulfill a duty to the camp.
It was even strange, he never thought that he would sit in a circle of friendly people, and drink again.
He heard a soft pleasurable groan next to him, and arched an eyebrow at Brenda, who had just drunk some of the wine.
She looked at him, slightly embarrassed that he was staring at her.
- What? This is good, it burns the throat a little, but it's good.
She said, making an excuse.
Lee laughed lightly and turned the glass over in his mouth, immediately identifying the taste of whiskey. It was his favorite drink in the "past life".
He always had a glass of whiskey on Fridays, right after he got home from work.
It seemed like an eternity ago.
- Now we are all here, we can start.
Scott said, pouring a little more drink into his glass.
- What do you have in mind?
Zoey asked, grimacing slightly as she drank some of the whiskey.
- Simple. I'm going to shuffle some cards according to the number of people here. Whoever draws the highest card can ask any of us anything.
He said, putting the glass on the table in front of him and taking two decks of cards from his pocket, taking half of the cards from one and putting it back.
- It's a great way to get to know each other better. And Victor, my friend, my partner, my brother from another mother. Today is the day I make you reveal your darkest secrets.
He said dramatically, causing Victor to roll his eyes and shake his head.
- What if someone takes the same card as the other? There's a deck and a half there.
Igor asked, placing his glass on the table.
Lee looked at him curiously, the boy reminded him of Zack somehow.
He bowed his head slightly as he remembered that the boy was in the "hospital" in this place. He was malnourished, almost sick. And the worst part was that Lee didn't even notice.
- Then the two people who drew the highest card get to ask.
He answered simply, dividing the cards into groups and dividing them among the people.
As soon as he was finished, he picked up the card at the top of his pile and threw it face down on the table.
- Cool, for fuck's sake, I already took the lowest card of the deck. You got away with it, Victor.
Scott said, slightly frustrated at the sight of his card, and ignoring Victor's laugh, clearly mocking his face.
The others played their cards, and Brenda smiled slightly when she saw that she had the highest card on the table.
- Beginner's luck, dammit. Go for it girl.
Scott said, getting a little more frustrated with his luck.
- ... How did you guys meet? All of you.
she asked.
- I met my dear friend Victor when I was running away from some zombies. Back then they still scared me, you know? I never even thought to cover myself with their guts, like some people do.
He said vaguely, but clearly talking about Lee, who rolled his eyes and smiled in his direction.
- Anyway. I had a bad leg, motorcycle accident. I thought I was going to be eaten and boom, there was my brother Victor, hitting the heads of the dead with a frying pan. My hero.
He finished saying, laughing as he saw the middle finger Victor sent in his direction.
- Victor is my cousin, we were together when it all happened. And I only met Scott after he was saved.
Zoey said, slightly confused at the surprised looks. Lee thought they were a couple... the others probably thought the same thing.
- I was already in this camp, I knew Ellen. I met everyone here only after they arrived.
Ana said, taking another sip of her drink.
- I can say the same, I didn't know anyone here before I arrived... Only Philip, he arrived before me.
Nicole said. And the rest just nodded, agreeing or saying "me too".
Brenda was slightly surprised to see that none of them knew each other before it happened.
Another round began, they turned over their cards and threw them on the table.
- For fuck's sake!
Scott complained again as he drew the second weakest card in the deck, and the weakest card on the table at that moment.
Victor smiled victoriously as he saw that he had the highest card, and made sure to rub it in Scott's face.
- Ana. Ellen said that you were in a very bad situation when you arrived, but you never told us what happened.
He began, leaning his arms on his knees as he looked curiously at Ana, who lowered her head and took another sip of her drink, sighing soon after.
Lee realized that this was a subject she didn't like to talk about much, just from the look on her face.
- It was a few months after everything happened. My group and I helped some people, treated their injuries, gave them food, that sort of thing. In the end, they tied us up, killed some of my friends, and burned my back with a blowtorch, just because I had a tattoo.
She said with a very heavy tone, looking down, not wanting to see the looks of surprise, or pity around her.
She hated to be looked at with pity.
-Wow...
Nicole said, that being the only thing she, and maybe everyone else there could say at that moment.
- Yeah. A few weeks after I got here, I found their bodies when I went out to get supplies, and they had all turned into zombies. Karma, justice, whatever.
She finished saying, pouring a little more drink into her glass.
- Well, I'll drink to that. Amen.
Scott said, raising his glass slightly before drinking from its contents.
Another round began, and this time, Scott was pleased to see that he didn't get the weakest card in the deck.
But he was slightly frustrated to see that it still wasn't the strongest.
Igor, finished his drink while thinking about his question.
-Lee... how did you find that out? How did you find out that zombies don't attack us when we cover ourselves with their guts?
He asked, and Lee could feel that this was the question people wanted to know most at the moment. It was pretty much all they talked about all day.
- ... I was in a car accident ... I was out for a while. I woke up upside down with zombies surrounding me, attracted by the noise. In short, I took my machete and cut everything I saw as hard as I could. I pierced heads, limbs, ripped them open, chopped the legs off some of them, did everything I could. In the end, I was covered with a lot of blood, pieces of flesh and organs. That's when I realized that after a while they didn't try to attack me anymore.
He explained, taking the rest of his whiskey and putting the glass on the table.
- Were you alone? I know it was just one question, but...
Ana asked, looking at him curiously.
- Yes, I was alone.
He answered simply, pouring some more whiskey into his glass, ignoring the stares.
Another round began, and this time Zoey was the one who drew the biggest card, much to Scott's misfortune.
- Brenda... how... how did you end up in that camp?
The woman asked, and Lee saw the girl next to him cringe slightly at the question. The atmosphere became a little heavier, but Brenda didn't seem too affected.
Not anymore.
- My parents and I were wandering around for a while after everything happened. My father died protecting my mother, and my mother died protecting me, just before I arrived at the camp. It was still small then, but it was in the process of expanding. The community would be called "The New Frontier" when it was finished.
She said with a slight mocking tone in her voice, mocking the name.
- They found me, weak, alone, and took me with them. They gave me food, a place to sleep, but in return... well, you can probably imagine.
She said with a heavy tone, she hated to relive those memories. But it was her past, and she couldn't just ignore it, even if it was something horrible and sick and disgusting, that still sent shivers through her body to that day.
-... Don't look at me with pity. Some people helped me get out of there, and Lee found me soon after. Besides killing some people I hated. I would say I had a "happy ending".
She said, finishing her wine and putting the glass on the table.
She didn't know why, but she hated being looked at with pity.
They were silent for a while, with Zoey slightly regretting having asked that question.
A new round began, and Zoey, again, was the one who drew the highest card.
- Oh, this is bullshit!
Scott complained again, being completely ignored.
- So, Lee. You never told us about before. What did you do before the dead walked the earth?
she asked, and Lee plopped down on the sofa, thinking about what to say.
At this point, his past didn't matter anymore, and he had done so many horrible things during that time that it made the murder of that senator seem like no big deal anyway.
- I was a teacher... until just before everything happened, I taught history, writing, that sort of thing. But due to an... incident, a few days before the apocalypse, I was fired.
He answered, smiling slightly when he saw the curious looks on his face. They were not satisfied with just that answer, it seemed.
- And why were you fired? Did you beat up any students? Did you pick up the principal's wife?
Scott asked, laughing at his own words and making Lee laugh slightly as he shook his head.
- I ... I beat a guy to death in a fight ... I was on my way to prison when it happened.
He said, and Scott's smile died, giving way to a surprised expression, as did the rest of the people.
Even Brenda looked at him with an arched eyebrow.
-Fuck... Brutal, and you were just a teacher.
Scott said, taking another sip of his drink as he pictured the scene in his mind.
- That must have been one hell of a fight.
Ana said with a faraway look on her face, finishing her drink.
Lee nodded, concealing the fact that the senator had been unable to defend himself.
He still regretted that he had done that, but he was also a little grateful.
If he hadn't killed that senator, he wouldn't have met Clementine.
After this little "shock", they continued to play for a few more hours. And in the end...
.
.
.
.
.
Scott didn't ask any questions.
