- Knock Knock! Anyone home?
Badger's loud, unpleasant voice caught the attention of both Clementine and Lee, who sighed wearily.
- Oh, shit. They really followed us all the way here?!
Clementine said with a slightly annoyed frown.
- Friends of yours?
Javi asked right next to the girl.
- And they're probably your friends too. I heard you killed one of them.
Lee said, and Javi grimaced a bit.
- Ah, shit... I guess we'll have to leave.
Javi said, looking at the others behind him.
- I wish we didn't have to come all the way here, but unfortunately...
The rather wispy voice of another man echoed through the place.
- What are we going to do?
Clementine asked, turning to Lee and pressing Aj against her body as she gripped the bow tighter in her other hand.
- Find a way out. We can't involve these people.
Lee said, running his eyes around the place looking for Tripp, but he grumbled softly when he saw that the man was already on the metal platform just above the gates.
- What if they attack these people too?
Mariana asked, and Lee scratched the back of his head. That was certainly something that could happen.
- We have no problems with your community. But we have reason to believe that you harbor some people who have done us harm. My friend Badger here said that these people shot at him, killed a lot of our people.
The man's voice echoed, this time a little louder, and apparently closer to the gates.
- Go tell that bullshit to some other idiot who will believe it. Fuck off!
Tripp shouted, leaning his rifle on the metal railing.
Lee sighed slightly and became a little more apprehensive. He didn't want those people to get into a fight that wasn't theirs.
- We can't just stand here. Eleanor is in the hospital wing, right?
Lee asked, turning and walking briskly towards the tent up ahead, with Clementine and the others following close behind.
- They must have fixed that part of the wall by now, right?
Clementine asked beside him.
- I hope not.
He replied.
- Why are they after us? They shot first.
Gabe asked, standing next to Javi.
- I'd like to know too, partner. But the further away from them we are, the better. You have a car, right?
Javi asked, alternating his gaze between Clementine and Lee a few steps ahead of him.
- Shit, it's right in front of the gates.
Clementine grumbled.
-... Well, I guess we'll just have to walk.
Javi said, and as soon as he finished saying, Lee entered the tent and walked briskly towards Eleanor.
- Oh, you're back... is something wrong?
The woman asked, looking at them somewhat confused.
- No time to explain, that hole in the wall, have you fixed it yet?
Lee asked, ignoring the looks he was getting from the patients around him.
- The back wall? Yes, why?
She answered, and both Clem and Lee sighed in frustration.
- Shit... is there another way out of here?
Lee asked, becoming even more apprehensive when he heard a muffled argument coming from the entrance gates.
- What? But why would you need to-
- Francine!
The woman was interrupted by a man's desperate shout, and almost immediately, she left the tent and looked confused and worried at the gates.
- How many bullets do you have?
Lee asked, looking at Clementine seriously.
- Not much.
- Whoa, you don't think that-
- Yes, we'll probably have to use our guns.
Lee said, interrupting Javi and leaving the tent shortly thereafter.
As soon as he left, it was like the starting point for a gunfight. His eyes focused on Tripp, and a dark-skinned man right next to him, who was shooting at someone while screaming in pain.
The roar of the truck engine was heard, and soon after that, the sound of the approaching vehicle.
Lee's eyes widened and he pulled Clementine to a far corner, taking cover as soon as the truck smashed through the gates of the community.
- Holy shit!
Javi shouted, pulling Mariana and Kate into cover, right next to Lee and Clem.
- Are they planning to destroy this place just to get us?!
Kate exclaimed, startled to hear all the gunfire, and the screams that soon echoed through the place.
- Ahm... I think they brought in some unusual reinforcement.
Clementine said quietly, looking at a fixed point ahead.
Lee leaned his body over and looked in the same direction, only to grumble lowly as he saw runners coming out of the back of the truck and starting to attack the people inside, with some men coming through the gate and shooting at all the survivors in sight.
- These guys are crazy!
Lee exclaimed, gripping his axe tightly as he watched the corridors begin to spread out.
- Looks like we're going to have to force our way out.
He said, taking the shotgun from his back and handing it to Javi.
- Fucking tear gas!
They heard Tripp shout, and turned toward him. He was coming out of a cloud of tear gas as he tried to shoot his way through the corridors ahead.
- The only way out, it seems, is through the main gates. If we can get to the car-
Lee cut off his words as he saw a runner approaching, and quickly drove his axe into his head. At a glance, he saw a woman pointing a rifle in his direction. Then, without pulling his axe back, Lee forces the runner's dead body to stand and uses it as a shield, standing just in front of Clementine.
As soon as she saw an opening, the girl leaned her body to the side and fired at the woman, hitting her in the chest and neck.
Running his eyes around the place, he doesn't see Tripp, or Eleanor around, if he remembered correctly, he had heard Tripp say that there was a plan for situations like this.
That plan would come in handy now.
- Come on! Cover me!
He said, starting to run towards a runner that was in the way and killing him quickly, splitting his head in two.
Right behind him, Clementine was shooting at a man who had taken out several civilians inside a nearby building, and Javi was blowing off the head of a woman who had shot people inside the tent they were using as a hospital.
Lee runs and grabs a strong hold of the neck of a runner, gritting his teeth, he rushes forward with the creature, using it as a shield from the shots of the man ahead.
As it approaches, Lee throws the runner's body onto the man with all his might. Clementine shoots the runner, and Lee drives his axe into that guy's head.
- Javi, get the rifle!
He shouted, and the man threw the shotgun in his direction and grabbed the rifle.
With the shotgun in hand, Lee fires his last two rounds at some people ahead, killing, or at least hitting, two of them in the process.
- Mariana!
Kate's desperate scream caught their attention, and as they turned around, their eyes widened to see a runner grabbing the girl by the arms.
Not only that, but there was another runner running toward her just ahead.
Lee and Javi looked at each other for a mere moment, and just then Javi raised his rifle toward the runner grabbing the girl and shot him dead, at the same time Lee ran toward the other one and chopped the thing's head off.
By reflex, Lee throws himself backwards when he sees two more people aiming their rifles at him.
- I'm out!
Clementine shouted as soon as she reached the front of the truck, clutching a crying Aj tightly in her arms.
- I still have some left.
Javi said, checking the clip on his rifle.
- Javi!
Kate shouted, and out of reflex, Javi shot at the people who came out of the side of the truck, at the same time that Lee stabbed his axe into the man in front of him, he being the first person he saw.
However, he was forced to retreat again when he saw that even more armed people were approaching.
Looking to the side, he sees a guy pulling Clementine by the arm, and since the girl had Aj on the other, there wasn't much she could do but try not to be pulled by him.
Raising his axe again, Lee breaks the man's skull in half, and kicks his body forward as he pulls his axe.
- Are you all right?!
He asked, but before the girl could answer, a groan of pain, followed by Gabe's desperate shout, caught their attention.
Turning around, they narrowed their eyes as they saw Kate shot in the abdomen and Javi struggling against two men who were trying to take his rifle.
Lee tried to run to him to help him, however, more people appeared pointing guns in his direction, forcing him to stop.
- Look who it is... the thieves... and these two look familiar.
Badger said, approaching with a cynical smile on his face, and staring at Lee with a flicker of doubt.
- I should kill you now. Thank that asshole Max for making me spare you.
He said, and the one from Max appeared right next to him.
- This wasn't supposed to happen, you son of a bitch! We should have just come to take them with us, that's all! Withdrawal order! Get the others, put these in the truck, and let's go!
Max said, looking angrily at Badger, and shooting at a stray runner who approached them.
Lee had his axe pulled from him and was pushed back.
Beside him, Clementine had her bow taken, and like Lee, pushed back.
Unable to say a word, Lee looks at Gabriel and Mariana, who were being surrendered as they shouted to Kate, who was being taken to one of the cars by two men.
Sighing angrily, he grits his teeth as he feels his arms being tied in front of his body, and focuses his eyes on Badger, who was teasing Clementine next to him.
- No!
The girl screamed and pulled Aj to her feet when a woman tried to take the boy from his arms.
- Just hand over this fucking kid!
Badger said, pulling Aj tightly out of her arms and slapping her as she tried to take him back.
Lee pushed the man who was tying his hands away and punched Badger in the mouth, who was thrown to the ground, right after handing Aj over to the woman.
Lee grits his teeth again as he feels his body being thrown against the truck, but is not intimidated to see the rifle so close to his face.
- You son of a bitch!
Badger says angrily, getting up and walking towards Lee. However, Max's arm stopped him from coming any closer.
- Stop this shit, and let's get the fuck out of here! God damn it, Badger, you're full of shit!
he grumbled angrily, pushing the man aside.
- We'll have a little talk later.
Badger said, and Lee just smiled cynically, though he was angry inside, and his eyes focused on the woman who was leading Aj toward one of the cars up ahead.