Clementine was sitting on the edge of that observation deck watching with a distant gaze the landscape ahead. A wide river flowing calmly, dark green trees just on the banks of the river on the other side, and a few skyscrapers appearing just behind these trees.
Her feet swayed slightly in the air as she rocked the sleeping baby in her arms. Alvin had been born the night before, and seeing how tired her group was, Clementine volunteered to take care of the boy while they slept.
As far as she knew, she was the only one who had had a full dinner and breakfast back at Carver's camp.
With a small sigh, she looked at the baby in her arms and arched an eyebrow when she saw that he was no longer asleep, but staring at her with curious eyes.
She didn't know exactly what to think of that child, but if she were to put it in a few words, she would use 'cute' and 'annoying.'
His crying was annoying, especially at times when he should be quiet, but wasn't. A small herd was almost drawn to where they were because of the boy's crying. Thank goodness they had weapons to defend themselves.
But although he was annoying, he was very cute, and she found herself attached to him very quickly. Maybe because he was a baby and she wouldn't have to worry about trusting him and ending up with a knife in her back.
Plus... it was kind of refreshing to see the birth of a life, not the extinguishing of one.
"He's cute." Clementine was brought out of her thoughts by Sarah's voice, and the girl couldn't help but stare at the other with a curious glance.
Sarah sighed slightly and squeezed her own wrist, looking nervous. She was restless, her eyes not stopping at a fixed point.
"Clem... I'm sorry for the way I treated you. I just..." Sarah began, and Clementine looked away.
She liked Sarah, yes, but she didn't care about the way she was treated by either her or Carlos. She didn't live for the happiness of them both, they had more important things at stake than the girl's fear, and the man's distrust.
"You don't have to, Sarah. I mean it. I don't care. Like your father said, we're different, I understand." Clementine said, not really being in the mood to hear excuses.
Especially from Sarah, who was a rather emotional girl.
"But... I treated you very badly. Even though I didn't say anything, I looked at you like you were one of those things." Sarah said, glancing at one of the walkers they had killed the day before.
"No problem, Sarah. We are different. What affects you, doesn't affect ME. We have more important things to worry about now." Clementine said, trying to sound gentle as she rocked the baby gently in her arms.
Sarah was silent for a while, something that annoyed Clementine slightly, since the older girl was not the type to stay quiet for long due to her curiosity and... well, her nosy ways.
"...What should we name it?" Sarah asked after a while, crouching down next to Clementine and looking at the baby.
"I don't know. I guess that's Rebecca's job..." Clementine said, turning around and looking back.
The girl stood up when she saw that Rebecca was awake and walked over to her, being accompanied by Sarah who was walking further behind.
"Hey, Rebecca." Clementine greeted her, smiling at the woman as she approached.
"Hey, Clem." The woman watched the girl crouch down beside her. "You're a natural with him. Like Kenny said, just like a big sister." Rebecca said with a smile, carefully taking the baby in her arms.
"Have you thought of a name yet?" Sarah asked, crouching down beside Clementine.
"I... I don't know. I try to imagine what Alvin would have chosen for him. We both thought it was a girl." Rebecca said, a mixture of happiness, nostalgia and sadness that the man was no longer around.
"Well... being honest, he looks just like Alvin." Clementine said.
"You think so?" Rebecca asked, smiling in relief and pride right after seeing Clementine nod.
"And... well, I think we should give him a name that would please Alvin and annoy Carver... Alvin Junior." Clementine said, a slight amused tone in her voice in an attempt to cheer the woman up.
And from the looks of it, it seemed to work a lot more than she had thought, which surprised her.
"hm, it's a great choice, actually. Like you said, he looks just like Alvin." Rebecca said softly, looking at the baby's face with such a proud and admiring expression.
As if she saw in front of her the most perfect being she had ever seen in her life.
"So... Alvin Junior?" Sarah asked.
"Alvin Junior." Rebecca confirmed, smiling at the two girls. "Thank you for helping to choose the name. I... to be honest, I didn't even have one in mind. I was planning to choose later with Alvin."
Rebecca said, watching Sarah get up and walk over to one of the backpacks.
The girl took a pen that was in one of the backpacks and wrote something on a small ribbon, approaching Rebecca a short time later.
"My mother made something similar for me when I was born." Sarah said, showing the small ribbon bracelet she had made that now bore Alvin's name down its length. "She tied the bracelet around my wrist. Unfortunately, I lost it when all this started. Can I...?" Sarah asked, and Rebecca smiled at her, nodding in confirmation.
Sarah smiled and fastened the bracelet on Alvin's wrist.
The three girls stood watching the baby for a while, two of them with admiring smiles on their faces, and another just happy to see a moment of happiness for the first time after so long.
"Sarah." Carlos' husky and slightly too loud voice interrupted the little moment between the three, and Sarah turned to the man who had just woken up. "What did I tell you? Come here."
The girl sighed and her face darkened, but she did as Carlos had said and approached him, sitting down right next to him and staring at the floor as if grounded.
Rebecca also sighed and faced Carlos with the hardest look she could manage in her weary moment.
"What's wrong with you?" The woman asked, receiving a confused look from Carlos in response. "Back at the cabin, you seemed inclined to help Clem. And you even cared about her before we found that lodge. Why do you treat her like this now as if she is a threat?"
Rebecca's voice was louder than before as everyone in there was already starting to wake up, and some were even stretching and complaining about the pain in their bodies from sleeping on that hard floor.
"I'm just taking care of my daughter. After everything..."
"I agree with Rebecca. Clem is not a threat, Carlos. You have to stop this." Luke said, sitting up and resting his arm on his knee as he faced Carlos with a neutral gaze.
Clementine alternated her gaze between the two and sighed. They definitely didn't need an argument first thing in the morning.
"Guys. It's okay. Carlos may see me as a threat, he may not like me, it's fine. I don't care." Clementine said softly and even gently, which served to calm the nerves that were certainly rattling there.
"Clem, we are a group. If we are going to stay together, we need to trust each other. I like Carlos, and I trust him. But the way in which Carlos is acting toward you is unfair." Luke replied, looking at the girl with a sympathetic look.
"How can you say she's not a threat after all that? After seeing what she really looks like?" Charles asked, his voice high, but there was no anger in his voice, just paranoid concern.
"Have you ever considered that if Clem wasn't the way she is, or didn't do what she did, she would be dead a long time ago? Have you considered that, doc?" Duck asked, also without anger in his voice, just weariness.
"Clem killed a friend, yes, but do you think she wanted that? She did it to save Rebecca, Sarita, and that baby. Why do you refuse to see that?" Kenny said, shaking his head slightly and walking over to Rebecca with a bottle of water. The woman accepted it and smiled at him after thanking him.
"Carlos... I understand that you care about Sarah, I do. But you have to stop being like this with your daughter. The truth is that you are keeping Sarah away from Clem because you are afraid that your daughter will learn something from her. You know Clem can handle herself, and, no offense, Sarah can't." Luke said, accepting a can of food Kenny offered and turning to Carlos soon after.
"Clem can take care of herself but in return she's lost what made her just a little girl. I don't want her to-"
"Carlos, that's bullshit." Kenny interrupted him, sitting down next to Sarita and opening a can of peaches. "Do you think the world today accepts children? Clem had someone who took care of her, just like you take care of Sarah. The man who took care of her knew he wouldn't be there for her forever and taught her to fend for herself. Even after he left, she kept moving on." Kenny said, feeling Clementine's gaze on him and lowering his own eyes to the floor.
"I haven't known you guys very long, but I was close enough to Sarah to know that... I'm sorry for the harsh words, but, know that she won't last long, Carlos," Sarita said, looking at the man sympathetically.
"Be realistic. If you die, what do you think will happen to Sarah?" Rebecca asked.
Everyone stared at Carlos, and the man just focused on staring at the ground. A defensive expression on his face, but consideration running through his confused and restless eyes.
"I'll tell you what's gonna happen. She's gonna snap. She has become so dependent on you that without you, she will lose the will to go on. Is that what you want? Wouldn't you be reassured knowing that when you are gone, Sarah will be able to take care of herself?" Luke said, trying to say that with kind and sweet words, but the reality was harsh and cruel.
But it was something that needed to be spoken. No one there wanted to see Carlos die, but they knew it could happen. And everyone hoped and wanted Sarah to keep moving forward, not only for her, but for Carlos himself.
The man seemed in an internal conflict with himself, and after a few minutes, he finally sighed in defeat.
"... I'll consider it." That was all he said, without removing his eyes from the ground.
It wasn't the answer they wanted, nor was it a truly good one, but it would do for now. Someone like Carlos would only change that thought with a slap of reality.
They could pretend to be satisfied for a while.
"Good. Better now than never. At least you had a chance to open your eyes." Jane said, more to herself than to the others, but ended up saying it too loudly.
Not that it was anything serious, as everyone there seemed to think the same thing.
"So, since we're going to be together from now on, it would be nice to get to know more about each other, wouldn't it? You guys knew each other before?" Mike asked, his arm resting on his knee and another extended with his hand on the floor supporting his body.
"Well, me, Bonnie, Rebecca and Carlos met when we first met Carver. We had more people with us, it was a big group. A lot of them died. People I knew before all this." Luke said, despite the small smile on his face, it was noticeable his nostalgia in his voice.
"We found Kenny and his family in a lodge, just before Carver took us back. We were running away from him. I guess I should apologize for involving you guys in all that mess." Luke said, alternating his eyes between the three people in front of him with a slightly embarrassed expression.
"Nah, it's okay. Who's to say we wouldn't run into that asshole some other time? After what I've seen, I don't doubt anything that piece of shit is capable of." Kenny said, nodding slightly to Luke and hugging Sarita against his chest.
"Have you been in that group since all this started? You guys seem to have known each other for a while now." Jane asked, her back propped on the wall and her legs crossed.
"Sort of. I spent a few months with some other people, my best friend included. I think it was six months after it all started that I met Carver. Rebecca and Bonnie were already with him. We stayed with him for a while, until we decided to run away." Luke explained.
"What about you guys?" Bonnie asked, alternating her gaze between Jane and Mike.
"I've been in a lot of groups. But, let's just say that the people in those groups always had something hidden. Greed and desperation mixed together are not a good combination. Those people just cared about themselves, deep down. I guess that's why none of those groups worked out." Mike said. "I was alone when I got into a fight with one of the members of Carver's group. They then took me into his community and forced me to work. I'll tell you, Carver was a psychopathic nut job, but what he did in that place was amazing."
"Heh, as much as I hate it, I have to admit. He knew what he was doing. And it's even weird to say that out loud." Rebecca said, lowering her gaze to AJ.
"Jane?" Mike asked, turning to the woman, who looked a little conflicted and even uncomfortable in that situation.
"I... I haven't been in many groups. And the few that I have been in, things didn't work out so well." The woman said.
"Why?" Bonnie asked.
"Well... The first group I was in, had this guy, he was a piece of shit. Nobody really liked him, but it wasn't like we could just kick him out. Even I wouldn't feel comfortable with that idea." She sighed.
"One day, the bastard got stuck. Many of our people risked their lives to save him, some even died so that that guy would stay alive. Hours later, he ripped the neck off an old lady who was with us. The bastard was bitten. The few that were left, walked away." Jane said, hugging her own body because of the cold.
"Gee... why didn't he say so? It would be better for everyone. Maybe they could even help." Sarah said, and Jane stared at her for a while, a strange glint in her eye.
"It's like I said, he was a piece of shit. The other group I was in, well, we were low on supplies. And more and more people were reaching their limit. These two men got into a fight because one of them had accused the other of stealing his food, when in fact he hadn't done anything. One of them died, and the one who survived went crazy, saying that everyone there wanted to steal his things, and ran off with the few supplies we had. I've been alone ever since." Jane finished, noticing the stares in her direction.
"Alone all this time? How did you manage that?" Sarita asked, not knowing whether to feel impressed, or incredulous.
"I realized that I'm better off just trusting myself, and that I would handle myself better." Jane replied.
"What? How did you manage to just not trust anyone? Or, I don't know, at least rely on someone for something?" Luke asked, sounding the most incredulous there.
"It was pretty simple, I always managed on my own. I didn't have to worry about other people's problem. Not even about having my throat cut in my sleep." Jane replied.
"... Maybe it worked for you, Jane. And I confess that it is impressive. But honestly, that's bullshit." Duck said, putting his can of food to the side.
"It's impossible for you to survive on your own, Jane. No one is there when you fall. It's a group that makes you strong. A united group that helps you survive." Clementine said, hugging her own knees and resting her head on her arms.
"I understand how hard it is to find a good group. Hell, I really do. But Clem is right. Being alone is definitely not the answer. Although, I congratulate you for making it. I doubt most people would be able to do the same." Kenny said.
"Well, for what it's worth, despite the clear problems, this group of yours seems to be thriving. So far, it's the most steady one I've encountered." Jane said. "Okay, and I admit I like some of you." She said, catching a glimpse of Luke fidgeting.
She almost couldn't contain a smile.
"Oww, we're going to learn to like you too. Honestly, when I heard how they found you back at Carver's camp, I thought you were fucking weird. Covered in walker guts and everything." Duck said.
"Argh, really?!" Rebecca asked, incredulous.
"Hey, come on. I did that because it was necessary. When you cover yourself in their guts, those things can't tell the difference between you and one of them." Jane said in her defense.
"Oh, God. I was finally thinking that you were opening up and becoming more normal and then immediately afterwards you say some stupid shit." Mike said in a slightly amused tone.
"That works." Clementine said, slightly annoyed at the incredulous looks thrown in her direction.
"The fuck, Clem?" Duck asked, and the girl just laughed lightly.
"That's how Lee got me out of that hotel. He covered me with walker guts and we passed right through the middle of the herd." She said.
"Oh, really? Damn, good one, pal." Kenny muttered to himself, apparently, impressed.
"... So, wait, we could have used the herd to get out of there if we wanted to? Like, literally walk through those things?" Luke asked.
"Yes. But it would be a good plan only if we were in a hurry and with no other options. If you get desperate, they'll notice, not to mention that the guards would surely shoot at the herd and one of us could get hit." Jane explained.
"Yeah... I guess so. Well, I'm certainly thankful that we didn't have to do that." Luke said.
"So, what the girl is of you guys?" Mike asked, alternating his gaze between Kenny and Sarita, who just arched an eyebrow. "I mean, from the way you and the boy defended her, it almost seemed like she's your daughter or a relative."
"Oh, no. Clem is important to us, but she's no relative." Kenny explained.
"We met at the very beginning of all this. Let's just say we're old friends. I called him Uncle Kenny sometimes. We were apart for quite a while. I even thought they were dead." Clementine said, propping her back against the wall.
"Geez. What are the chances?" Mike said.
"Who taught you how to survive?" Jane asked. "I mean, you're so young and already so independent. I know today's world has kind of forced you to be that way, but, you take care of yourself better than most adults I've ever met." Jane said, crossing her arms and leaning her body forward slightly to get a better view of the girl.
Clementine lowered her head for a while and sighed in a certain melancholy.
"The man I mentioned earlier, Lee . He found me when all this happened, still in my house. Since then, he took care of me. He taught me how to survive. When to shoot to kill, to scare, to hurt. To know my priorities and to follow what is right, even if sometimes doing the right thing means getting your hands dirty or that other people will hate you for it." She said, running her eyes around the people there for a few moments before facing the outside of the place.
"Oh, I remember when he told me he was going to teach Clem to shoot and suggested I do the same with Duck." Kenny said, drawing the stares to himself. "At first, I freaked out, of course. Duck was still very young, and Clem was only eight, nine years old."
"Heh, how was that? It must not have been a decision made out of the blue. A kid that age can barely hold a gun." Mike said.
"Right after we escaped a farm from a cannibal family." Kenny said, almost laughing as he saw the incredulous expressions around him.
"What the fuck? Cannibals? Shit." Luke said, somewhat incredulously.
"They seemed cool, until they cut off the legs of one of our people. They planned to cook them for dinner. We were locked up in a meat locker, but thanks to Clem here, we made it out. Lee didn't like killing, never did, so he just beat those men and left them there. There were walkers getting into the farm, so the chances of them living were pretty low." Kenny explained.
"Geez. Sounds like you guys had a rough time of it. No wonder Clem and Duck are more mature than they look." Luke said.
"Although, Duck looks more like you. In almost everything." Sarita said looking at Kenny, who just stared back at her with a silly expression.
"What can I say? Duck has my blood in him. A hot headed tough little bastard. And Clem, though not blood, was molded by Lee. They're both more reserved and analytical, plus they hold true to what they believe in and always think of others, no matter the situation." Kenny said. "Although they often don't like it, they both do what is necessary."
"I have to say. That's the first time you've talked about the past. Especially with all this normalcy." Sarita said.
"Hm, I have to agree with her. This whole time it felt like we were traveling with a stranger, even though we went through so much together." Luke said, looking at Clementine, who just looked away.
"There's a lot you don't need to know. And that we don't want to talk about. I think it's for the best." Kenny said.
"Better for whom?" Sarita asked. "Like it or not, this group is your family. And as a family, we have a right to know." The woman looked hard at Kenny, who just scratched the back of his neck with a lost expression.
"Maybe another time. Right now, we need to discuss what we're gonna do. The food won't last long with so many people." Kenny said, changing the subject just so he wouldn't have to talk about the past, they all realized.
But, the subject was important and they needed to talk about it anyway. So, no one really cared.
"Rebecca still needs to rest, at least a few more days." Carlos said, speaking up for the first time since they had started to get to know each other better.
"Exactly. With the food we have, how long can we stay here?" Kenny asked, watching Bonnie count off the backpacks.
"If we skip one meal every day, we can stay here for a week." She replied after a while.
"Well, that's good enough. I guess." Kenny said.
"Where do we go after here?" Luke asked.
"I even thought about considering going to Wellington. But with this baby, I think we'd better walk south." Kenny replied.
"Wellington?" Mike asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Rumor has it it's a big community up north. But in this cold, I doubt we'd get there. Not with that baby. Not with this number of people." Luke replied.
Clementine watched them discuss the group's next steps, and a small smile broke out on her lips. Despite the situation, it was nice to see so many people talking to each other like that, amicably.
Each one concerned about the other, considering the next before making any decisions. Just the way it should be.
She had no place in mind, so, without anyone noticing, she stood up and walked back to the edge of that observation deck.
There wasn't much to do, and she just decided to look around with that binocular. It was even good to let the group mingle more.
Some time passed, and that's when a large movement caught her attention.
At first her eyes narrowed as she moved the binoculars. Then Clementine's eyes widened and she slowly turned away when she saw what was advancing towards them.
A herd.
A very large herd to the point of completely covering the road and the forest.
A little ahead of the herd. A truck with some people on top.
"Guys!" The girl shouted for them, Luke being the first one out.
"Ah, shit!" He exclaimed as he saw what was approaching, and the rest of the people started to leave.
"What's going on?" Rebecca asked worriedly.
"We have to go! Bonnie, help Rebecca!" Kenny exclaimed, reaching for his gun and checking his ammo.
"What the fuck is that?!" Mike exclaimed as he heard the truck honk.
"I don't know. And I don't want to stay here to find out! Let's go!" Jane exclaimed, already descending the stairs and opening the gate at the end.
"We can't go south now! Jane, how many miles to the bridge?!" Kenny asked as he walked down.
"Five miles!" She replied.
"It's gonna have to be!" Kenny said, looking around once more before he started running in the opposite direction from which the herd was approaching with the group right behind him.
The roar of the truck's engine joined the roar of the group's gasps as they ran. They didn't know how long this had been going on, but everyone was already getting tired.
The truck honked frantically, not only attracting the herd, but arousing the interest of the surrounding walkers in that town.
Stores abandoned for years had their first movement since the apocalypse as bodies slowly rose and walked to the streets.
"Duck!" Kenny yelled as he pulled the boy toward him, pulling him out of the middle of the street as the truck sped up and passed them.
Shots were heard and bullets hit the ground in front of the group, who stopped running and pointed their guns at the truck.
"Ah, shit..." Luke muttered.
"Surprised to see me?!" Carver's angry voice shouted from inside the vehicle and the group tensed up. "Do you guys have any idea what you've done?!" Carver shouted again, shooting at the walkers who approached the truck.
"I gave you a chance! I opened the door to my house for you and you spit in my face! Rebecca! I'd rather kill that baby myself than let you stay with these people!"
More shots were fired, and the group ran to safety behind the surrounding abandoned cars.
The shots passed dangerously close. But they managed to hide quickly enough.
Well...
At least...
Most of them.
"Rebecca!" Bonnie screamed as she saw the woman's body fall to the ground with the baby still in her arms.
The woman despaired, and seeing the blood draining from Rebecca's body, she rushed to get Alvin.
However, more shots were heard, and Bonnie's body was pierced several times. Shots that hit the entire length of her back and head, piercing through her body.
"No!" Luke shouted with desperation in his voice, shooting a few times into the truck and hitting some men who were in the bucket. "Carver! You son of a bitch!"
"Oh, no, no, no Luke! That's not the way it is! You're the one to blame for everything!" Carver shouted again, shooting toward the car in which Luke was hiding.
"You psycho asshole!" Kenny shouted, also shooting at the truck and puncturing the two front tires of the vehicle while Duck shot at the walkers approaching them as much as he could.
Clementine was doing the same as she hid beside Sarita.
"My entire community! My home! Destroyed by this herd! Our future destroyed because of you!" Carver shouted again, trying to speed up the truck even with smoke coming out of the engine.
"Fuck you!" Kenny yelled again, shooting at the vehicle again as Carver moved forward.
Carlos, right next to Mike, was also shooting at the truck, killing some of the men in the bucket.
Mike protected Sarah from the oncoming walkers as they backed slowly down a street with a sea of abandoned cars.
With the speed of the truck, it was possible for Kenny and Duck to get away from there before Carver hit the car in which they were hiding.
"Holy crap! Rebecca!" Luke yelled as he saw walkers approaching the woman's body, and knowing he wouldn't get there fast enough, he shot the bodies, drawing the attention of the walkers to himself.
"Luke! We have to go!" Jane shouted as she saw the herd approaching.
Not far from there, Sarita and Clementine were running around the truck toward Kenny and Duck. However, they were surprised when the vehicle backed up and slammed into the wall of the nearby establishment, blocking their passage.
"No! Don't even think about it, Clementine! I gave you a choice! We would get through these dark times and you were key! But you, because of these assholes, threw away our future!"Carver shouted, shooting at the two women as he exited the vehicle.
"If you can't join me, I'll kill you! I can't let a girl like you live!" Carver shouted again, shooting again as he approached the two.
Clementine and Sarita threw themselves aside, hiding behind a metal dumpster. But not fast enough to keep Sarita from being hit in the stomach.
The woman fell to the ground with her hand on her abdomen, and Clementine roused herself.
Raising her arm above the dumpster, she fires in the direction Carver was standing in hoping to at least slow him down.
After firing a few shots, she rips off part of her blouse and goes over to Sarita who was lying down.
"Clem..." The woman tried to say something, but the girl interrupted her.
"Don't speak! I see no way out, so the bullet must have stayed inside you!" The girl said, tying the piece of cloth around Sarita's wound.
Footsteps caught her attention, and as she looked forward, she stared wide-eyed to see Carver pointing a gun in her direction as blood dripped from her shoulder.
Everything went in slow motion and she really thought she was gonna get shot. However, Kenny appeared and landed a punch in Carver's face, causing the man to stagger to the side and struggle not to fall.
"Clem! Get Sarita and go!" Kenny yelled, watching as Duck kicked Carver's leg and knocked him to the ground.
Clementine looked around and her breathing became heavier as she saw the herd even closer. Literally steps away from her.
The girl helped Sarita to her feet while, glancing around, she saw Kenny shoot Carver's body several times with him still standing.
Duck stopped Carver from falling, holding him by the back. Kenny approached the man and the two began to carry him toward the herd, where they threw Carver's body to the walkers and bought them a few seconds of time.
"Let's go! The others have already gone ahead!" Kenny said, taking Sarita in both his arms and walking away from there as fast as he could.
"What about Alvin?!" Clementine asked, looking back and feeling her heart burning as she couldn't even see Rebecca's body due to the large number of walkers.
"There's nothing we can do!" Kenny said. Despite the strong tone in his voice, it was possible to notice the frustration and even sadness in his voice as he said those words.
Clementine bit her lower lip, but soon tried to run from there as fast as she could while, next to Duck, she covered Kenny from the surrounding walkers.
The city was silent. The gunshots, the honking of before were already forgotten by the wind.
Hours had passed, perhaps.
Snow was beginning to fall, the cold made the walkers even slower. In some cases it froze them completely and they were unable to walk, making it easy for any soul to kill them.
One particular body walked down the deserted street with slow but steady steps. He seemed in no hurry, and his body, although attentive, seemed not to be bothered by the horrendous sight of bodies lying on the ground and the red of the blood slowly being covered by the white of the snow.
A true vision of the end of the world.
The man stopped walking when he reached an intersection, where a truck with punctured tires and smoke coming out of its engine blocked part of the street and a larger concentration of bodies could be found.
Further ahead, a few walkers still wandered slowly.
The man took the machete from his back and walked toward those corpses. Although his loud footsteps indicated his presence, the bodies were not fast enough to turn and attack him immediately.
Cold was his weapon.
After stabbing his machete into the head of the first walker, he kicked the second one in the leg, knocking him down, and finally killed him.
He stood up after wiping the blood from his blade, and his eyes ran around. It seemed that a small war had taken place there.
Bodies with bullet holes were lying on the ground. Some had already been revived, but remained fallen.
The man decided to kill those bodies around him. He would not run the risk of one of them crawling up behind him and taking him by surprise.
The bodies looked fresh, and there were a few weapons on the ground.
The man made sure to grab all the pistols and ammo he could and put them in his camp backpack. There was plenty of ammo for just one person, he drew the big draw.
There were also some rifles and knives on the ground there. For good measure, he took one of the knives and kept it in his waistband, while he hid the rifles and their respective ammo in an alley, just below a garbage can.
The lucky one who found them could keep those weapons. He couldn't use them effectively anyway.
One of those particular bodies had a backpack similar to his, and the man crouched beside it.
A redheaded woman, still in her twenties by her face. She had died a short time ago. Her body riddled with bullets and several holes in her flesh.
A sad end for someone so young, and, apparently, healthy.
Carefully, the man took off the woman's backpack and opened it, arching an eyebrow when he saw all the food.
Many of the cans had been punctured, as well as some chocolate bars. But, the chocolate bars were still edible, and there were some cans that were still intact.
Such luck.
Or maybe it was fate.
The man took what he could and put it in his backpack. He wouldn't have to worry about food or ammo for a while. Now he just needed to find a warm place to stay. Winter was near.
Just before he got up to leave, the cry of a baby nearby caught his attention.
As he turned around, his eyes fell on the body of another woman lying on the ground. A hole in her forehead and a child in her icy arms.
The woman's blood stained the cloths that covered the baby.
The man stared at it almost in disbelief. It seemed to be a miracle.
Not to mention that it was too intense. He couldn't even remember the last time he had seen a baby.
A life that was born in the apocalypse. He didn't even think it was possible.
He stood up and carefully removed the baby from the woman's icy arms.
"Hey, little guy. Shhhh, it's okay." The man's deep voice, along with his slight rocking, caused the baby to stop crying and stare at him.
The baby had dark skin and curious dark eyes. It was a miracle that the child was still alive.
It was a miracle that the baby was even born into this world.
The man placed the child on his leg and put his backpack down. Soon after, he took a large cloth and removed the one covering the boy.
His eyes fell on the bracelet he was wearing, and ran down the letters written in black colored pen.
"Alvin Junior... Hm, I think that's your name." The man stared into the boy's eyes, smiling slightly at him. "Well, nice to meet you, Alvin. I'm Lee." Lee said with a small smile, covering the boy with the clean cloth he had taken from his backpack.
That baby there, alone, in the cold, surrounded by bodies and supplies left over from a battle was not there by chance. It coudn't be.
Especially not with all that food.
Not to mention that Lee hadn't even planned to walk in that direction. He was forced to go to that town after being chased.
Fate really was a curious thing.
Lee smiled slightly at the boy when he saw him raise his hands in his direction, and after putting the backpack back on his back, he stood up with Alvin leaning on his one arm.
Lee's eyes fell on the body of the woman in front of him, and he sighed lightly.
"I'll take care of him the best way I can... I promise." Lee said, bowing slightly in front of the woman's body as a sign of respect.
He wished he at least knew her name. It was a shame.
"Well... your mother will watch over you, little guy. Even if you never know who she was." Lee said, looking at the woman's body for a few more moments, before turning and walking toward the exit of the city.
