A Continuing Nightmare Redux

by JohnLocke4

Clementine listened to Lee's last request and left him for dead getting out of Savannah safely on her own. Yet, Lee wasn't dead, rather his body was weak from blood loss and had caused him to pass out rather than die. Now a day later he awakes still in the jewelry store, alone. Will Lee be able to get out of Savannah and if he does, will he ever get back to Clementine?

1. A Continuing Nightmare

"Don't Go," Clementine whispered out, her voice breaking with each word, and tears streamed down her cheeks. Lee let out a rattling breath, he attempted to say something, anything, but he hadn't the strength to. His eyelids became heavier and heavier while his vision began to fade. He blinked slowly once, then twice, seeing Clementine at the doorway. The young girl gave one final look back and watched as Lee's eyes finally shut completely, his head dropped to the left and, his body slumped to the left letting him fall against the radiator he sat next to.

Darkness enveloped Lee, and as much as he thought he was dead, that despite his best efforts to survive, his bite taking his arm wasn't enough; he was wrong. Flashes of his ex-wife, his parents, brother, Carley, Kenny, the stranger, and finally, Clementine rapidly fired over his mind. This dream, or perhaps a nightmare, haunted Lee, each one of these figures yelling, blaming, ridiculing him for his constant failures. It was only when Lee's mind was able to push through long enough to think, Is this hell? The horror finally ended.

Lee shot awake, a panicked breath left his body and, he looked around the destroyed jewelry store with wide eyes. At his feet still laid the dead security guard and a bloody baseball bat that Clementine used, just being able to save her own life while Lee was forced to sit helplessly by watching. "I'm dead, aren't I dead?" Lee asked the world, his words coming out only as a weak whisper. Lee weakly sat up and groaned in pain, his stump was searing with pain, but he noticed it wasn't bleeding any longer.

Lee dragged his eyes around the building; the muffled sounds of the walker horde outside on the streets just barely reached his ears but that was all, nothing else, just him alone in a jewelry store. "I shouldn't be here…" Lee murmured, the very fact that he was even awake struck his very core. Sucking in a sharp breath Lee attempted to get to his feet, though his weakened body collapsed under him slamming him back against the wall.

Lee reached up and rested his hand on his head, a pounding headache was keeping him foggy and each swallow hurt his raw burning throat. Just as the professor began to resign to his fate a moment of clarity came through and his eyes sprung open, "Clementine!?" He tried to yell but was only able to hack out weakly before grabbing his throat, wincing as pain took over for a moment. Lee shook his head, letting out a growl as he fought against his own body, he reached for the baseball bat lying next to the caved-in skull of the walker. Wrapping his fingers around the bat he pulled it over to his side and planted it firmly on the ground, using it as a balance he once against tried to get to his feet.

Every muscle in Lee's body ached and cried as he fought his way to his feet, Lee squeezed his eyes shut, pushing right through the pain without hesitation, and then, he was up. His legs were like jello, and he continued to use the bat, now like a cane, to make sure he didn't fall down again. Looking around the store once more he parted his dry lips and called out as strong as he could, "Clem? Sweetie? Can you hear me? Are you there?"

Lee took a step forward and immediately his legs gave out. He let out a little shout as he stumbled forward and luckily was able to catch himself on the display counter. Lee took a sharp inhale as his body tried to completely collapse under him, he gritted his teeth and once again pulled himself upright. "Come on," Lee hissed out as he looked back towards the closed-off security room. He pushed his body back off the counter and started to shuffle towards it, he started to check his pockets and let out a small sigh of relief feeling the handle of his meat cleaver still tucked between his belt and pants.

He carefully pulled out the blade and started to walk towards the door he last saw Clementine go through. Lee pulled the door open and grimaced as he saw a long staircase to walk up. He pushed the meat clever back into his belt and took hold of the railing and started to make his slow descent up the stairs. As he was climbing he was trying to work out how he was alive, surely he wasn't infected anymore, that much was evident. Yet when he told Clementine to leave him he felt as though that was it, he was going to die any minute. He stopped taking heavy breaths as he got to the halfway point of the staircase and looked over to his stump.

The gauze were stiff with dried blood but not a single drop was falling to the stairs below him anymore. Surely it wasn't that simple, Lee couldn't bear to think that everything boiled down to him passing out due to blood loss. He abandoned Clementine to an unknown fate by herself, when all he had to do was rest until he could move again. Lee grunted, trying to force these thoughts from his head, he wasn't going to bleed out, that's all that mattered right now.

He took a large breath and started to climb yet again, he was nearing the top and could see two doors. One led to the roof while another led to what he could only assume was a second-floor apartment belonging to the owner of the store below. Just as he neared the top the railing came loose causing Lee to lose balance, mere seconds from tumbling backward down the stairs Lee let his body fall down. He landed hard on his stomach and slid down a few steps before halting. He let out a deep grumble before crawling up the remaining steps, stopping just below the door handle of the apartment.

Once again Lee pulled himself upright which would have been even harder if not for the door handle to the apartment. Lee turned towards the roof access door but paused, "Clem could be in there." He thought and pulled the meat cleaver out of his belt. Turning the handle of the door and readied himself for what was to come. The door let out a creak as Lee pushed it open with his foot he peered through the small crack of the door before slowly entered the apartment, "Clem?" He called out softly only to hear an audible growl coming from his direct right.

He quickly turned back and saw the rotting carcass of a woman shambling towards him. It's milky white eyes were locked on Lee's while it's rotten jaw snapped a few times, dripping black ooze onto the floor. "Shit!" Lee exclaimed, lifting the cleaver in his hand and slamming it down into its head, yet to Lee's horror, the walker kept coming. "The hell?!" Lee yelled out confused as he tried to pull the cleaver out while backing up. Lee stumbled and fell to the ground as he ripped the meat cleaver out of its head, the walker now, pouring blood from the gaping wound, fell to its knees ready to rip into Lee.

Lee let out a yell and kicked the walker in its face, pushing it away from his body giving Lee time to react. Adrenaline was coursing through Lee's veins as he reached out and took hold of the cleaver once more. He kicked the walker a second time and sent it onto it's back then letting out a desperate yell he dove onto the walker, pinning its shoulders down with his knees. Lee began to slam and slash the cleaver into the walker's skull without any care. Blackened blood splattered over Lee's body as well as the apartment along with a few flecks of grey flesh. The woman's face quickly began to lose all shape and even after it's growls faded and body went limp, Lee didn't stop. Once Lee's power began to fade let out one final angry yell and rammed the blade of the cleaver down the center of the walker's skull, cleaving it in two.

Lee took several deep breaths as his body started to come down from the adrenaline rush. He could hear an audible sound of something wet slapping against the floor and peered over only to see his wound dripping with blood yet again. "Fuck." Lee said wide-eyed. He knew that if he didn't stop the bleeding that would be it. He got to his feet and looked around, there were piles of empty cans and bottles all around him but near one of the windows sat a small outdoor grill hooked up to a propane tank.

Lee stared at it fearfully before slowly making his way towards it. He let out a shaky breath as he opened the propane tank then attempted to light the grill, to his horror as well as his relief it turned on. He looked around and saw a small frying pan and placed it over the small flames. While the pan started to heat up he slowly undid the bandage wrapped around his stump. Lee was shaking violently as the fear of what he was about to do finally set in. He picked up the pan after a few minutes and took deep breaths. "You can do this, you can do this...fuck...fuck me," He whispered out,

His stump dripped a few thick globs of blood onto the pan causing a loud hiss to fill Lee's ears. The professor shook fearfully but swallowed it back down and grabbed the pan before abruptly pressing it as hard as he could against his stump.. Lee let out a window breaking scream of pain as the pan started to sear his wound shut. Lee continued to yell as his vision started to blur, he continued to press the pan onto his wound for as long as possible. It became completely closed as Lee felt his legs got numb and let him fall to the floor. He let out some weak sputtering breaths as he began to slip into unconsciousness once again, just as his eyes started to drift closed he heard a shocked voice, "Lee?"

Nearly forty-eight hours after Lee cauterized his stump he finally awoke, his eyes flickered open slowly. He looked to his left and saw his stump wrapped up with fresh bandages, and at this point, he realized that he was now laying on a couch and not on the floor. He looked around and saw that he wasn't even in the same building anymore. He let out a deep groan as he sat up, "Fucking Finally!" A familiar voice exclaimed from across the room,

Lee turned his head and sitting across from him on a coffee table sat a smiling blonde in a grey and orange jacket, "Molly?" Lee asked as though he was seeing a phantom,

"Oh, you remembered my name, how sweet," Molly sarcastically retorted as she hopped to her feet and headed over to his side,

Lee grunted while swinging his feet off the couch, sitting up and holding his dizzy head, "How long have I been out?"

"Well, you've been in and out a lot but since I found you passed out on the floor, two days? I think so at least, the time has been endless being stuck up here with you," Molly sighed as she dug through a bag and grabbed a bottle of water. She walked over to him and handed it to him, "Here, drink up."

Lee quickly snatched the bottle and after a moment of struggling to take the cap off, he downed the bottle in a matter of seconds. "Thanks." He panted as he wiped his dripping mouth dropping the bottle by his feet. Just as Molly was about to make a small quip about him making a mess she stopped seeing his expression change to one of misery before covering his eyes with his hand, rubbing them slowly.

"So, what? They decided to leave you behind when they got on the boat?" Molly asked leaning against a nearby couch, "I didn't think you'd get left behind outta all of them, maybe that lanky kid,"

"No," Lee whispered back as he continued to rub his eyes, nearly in tears,

"No? Then I'm guessing that whole arm thing happened because you got bit and you left in case it didn't work? Come on Lee, what happened?" Molly said pressing him,

"I got bit, yeah, but that's not what happened. It must have been only an hour after you left when Clementine when missing, we assumed it was that old man, Vernon, who took her. So we all went looking, didn't find her or Vernon because in the meantime Vernon and his group were stealing our goddamn boat," Lee bitterly explained before his demeanor changed, and he started gritting his teeth, "This fucker...this evil fucker took Clementine,"

"Who? Do you know where she is?" Molly asked quickly, looking as though she was about to climb out the window to start searching herself,

"Not with him, I tracked them down with the others, we got picked off one by fucking one until it was just me. I killed him, got Clementine out safely then...then I told her to leave me." Lee finally looked up at Molly, his eyes watery, and red, "My body was failing me." Lee continued his head drooping back down, "She walked out of that building where you found me and I don't know where she is. I told her to look for Christa and Omid, but I don't know if they even got outta this town alive," Lee said with a small shrug,

"Jesus fucking Christ. And wait, what do you mean you all got picked off? What happened to that cranky fucking old dude, that chickenshit kid, and Christa and Omid?" Molly asked with a bewildered look,

"Kenny and Ben…." Lee said with another drop in his voice, "He tried to do right by him."

"Huh?" Molly asked while crossing her arms,

"Ben, he was trying to make it up to Kenny, hell to me too. He wanted to prove to us that he was more than a screw-up but he didn't get the chance. We ended up in a house and were using a balcony to hop onto the roof of another building. Ben was the last to jump but the balcony gave out under him. Poor fucker dropped four stories and got impaled on the balcony… the worst part was, he survived it too," Lee explained, shutting his eyes trying to forget the image of the metal bar ripping through Ben's stomach,

"Shit," Molly said on her breath in shock,

"Me and Kenny went down to help him, but he was just too loud. The walkers heard his screams and they cornered us in the alley. Kenny...he just pushed me away and stayed out there. He made sure Ben didn't suffer but….I don't see how he could ever get out of there alive," Lee said with a small sniff remembering the loss of his friend, "Then Christa and Omid got separated when we got closer to Clem, I told them to meet us by the train. They are gone by now, with or without Clem...or they're dead too,"

Molly's eyes went soft and she walked over to him carefully putting his hand on her shoulder, "I...I'm sorry Lee." She said with a drop in her voice that came off very sincere. After a moment's pause Molly let out a sigh, "We need to leave Savannah, that herd that showed up has infected this city even worse than before and they aren't leaving." Molly said causing Lee to look up without much care in his eyes, "Hey, who knows, maybe we can find Clem along the way." She added trying to sound hopeful,

"We?" Lee scoffed,

Molly narrowed her eyes, "Yes we, you seem to forget that I've saved your life three damn times now. Add to the fact this herd was brought here by your loud fucking train, so Lee you owe me one." Molly walked over to a shelf and began to stuff items into a bag, "I mean I leave you guys so you don't have to worry about me on the boat, help you get the fucking battery and gas for that boat too, plus drag your sorry ass from that shit jewelry shop and treated your wound so I don't see this as asking for much."

Lee paused and took in everything she said for a moment, "So this is where you stayed ever since Crawford?" Lee asked getting up,

"Yeah, the first floor has an overturned truck blocking the front doors and Crawford took care of blocking up all the windows for me. I stuck to the top floor, blocked up the bottom floor with as much shit as I could so the only way in or out was by rooftop making the geeks a non-threat," Molly said as she walked over and grabbed another backpack, "Not that it matters now, This whole city is just swarming with the dead, we need to get out while we can." She said shoving the bag into his hand, "Fill that with whatever you can find."

Lee let out a small sigh and started to look around the room, he felt more hopeless than he ever had. "Alright." He muttered as he picked up a bottle of water and dropped it into the bag,

"Perk up, you're alive," Molly said rolling her eyes,

"Doesn't feel like it," Lee said shaking his head, "Everyone I know is gone, I lost the only thing I cared about...Alive or dead, feels exactly the same now,"

Molly paused for a second trying to find something to counter that with but she couldn't, she knew what he was feeling. Three months ago she brought her sister into Crawford to protect her, and that's what killed her. She was never going to be able to forgive herself for that or get past it. It was a hollow feeling, nothing could really fill it, and Molly knew it'd change him just like it changed her. Hell, Lee's group was the first people she had talked to since her sister's death, and even though she liked them, her instinct was to run. Can't be hurt if you never care, right?

Molly let out a soft exhale before saying, "So I figured out a plan if we can find a car that can work I can distract the dead using the bells while you get it started and we just drive out of this place. The only problem is finding a running car without stepping foot on the street."

Lee looked over at her then thought for a second, "I know where we can get one." Lee said causing Molly to turn back in surprise, "The son of a bitch who took Clem had a station wagon, it's parked right in front of the Marsh House."

"How do you know it runs?" Molly asked with a raised eyebrow,

Lee's eyes narrowed and clenched his fist, "I know because he followed us all the way from Macon in it."

Molly's eyes went a little wide in surprise, "I guess that's gonna have to good enough." She said with a small nod. Lee finished packing his bag and slung it over his shoulder then struggled slightly to put it over his other one. Molly watched with a touch of pity as Lee struggled but quickly stopped staring not wanting to insult him. .

"Hey Molly, do you have a gun?" Lee asked looking at her hopefully,

Molly hesitated for a moment before letting out a sharp exhale through her nose, "Yeah, but don't fucking use this thing." Molly replied as she dug through her bag and passed the pistol over to him, "The last thing we need is for you to fire off a shot and drawing them all to us." Lee let out a silent nod and tucking it into the back of his pants, "Here, this is yours too." Molly said passing his meat cleaver back to him,

Lee let out a weak half-smile, "Thanks." He mumbled out and slipped it into his belt. Molly gave him a small nod before turning around and leading him out of the small apartment. Lee followed her down a hallway way that led to a small staircase, they walked up to it and walked out a door that brought them back to the rooftops. Lee put his hand out blocking his eyes from the sun, "Damn, never thought I'd see the sun again." Lee said with a small smile,

Molly let out a grin, "Enjoy the little things where you can." Lee let out an ever so soft chuckle as they walked across the rooftops though stopped himself in shame. After several minutes Molly grinned and pointed to her right, "There's your Marsh House, and there's our ride." Lee let out a nod in agreement. "So," Molly said looking around, "There's our church bell." She finally said after scanning the rooftops, "Should take me ten minutes to get there, ring it and get back. Think you can get that running by then?"

"Yeah, let's just get this over with," Lee said with a nod while he headed back towards the fallen sign that had separated him from Christa and Omid. Molly let out a nod and took off running towards the church tower. Lee reached the sign in two minutes and waited patiently for the bell to sound off. He looked down at the street and could see the swarm of walkers lumbering about. Finally, three minutes later he heard the gong of the bell sending out a beacon for all the dead in town.

The walkers looked around and quickly started to shuffle towards the noise. Lee carefully made his way back down the sign once again and with a small jump landed on the ground. He started to remember his last march down this street when he was fighting his way through the herd. Now he walked through an empty street stepping over the walkers he had killed. He got to the station wagon a swung the door open.

He started to look around the car for keys, he was sure that they were in the car. He checked the glove box and let out a small grin as he saw the keys sitting there, "Still didn't learn." He grumbled out thinking back to the stranger as he put the keys into the ignition. The car immediately turned over, Lee threw it into reverse and spun the car around. He drove forward just a bit and looked back to the rooftops where he saw Molly sprinting towards him. He turned around and saw the herd slowly walking back towards him. "Oh shit." Lee said wide-eyed as he slowly began to drive forward, "Molly! Come on!" Lee shouted from the window.

Molly pulled out Hilda and stopped running immediately, she jumped off the edge but quickly caught herself with the edge of her ice pick. Lee watched just as amazed as the first time he'd seen Molly do this. She started to hop from window to window making her way down the buildings. Lee continued to let the car roll forward while the herd got closer and closer. Molly hit the ground and started to sprint at the car while the dead we just at her heels. Lee reached over and pushed the passenger door open for her. Molly got to the car and pulled herself inside, "Go! Get us the fuck out of here!" Molly shouted as she looked back at the herd that just started to hit the back window.

Lee slammed his boot on the gas pedal and the car sped down the streets. He continued to head towards the outskirts of Savannah, hitting roadblocks or walls of hundreds of walkers, "Shit, where do we go?!" Molly exclaimed as they started to get closed in, Lee narrowed his eyes and hit the gas pedal turned off-road up a small hill. The station wagon just barely made it up the hill while they drove out of the city leaving it in the dust finally. "Where to now?" Lee asked as he let out a sigh of relief.

Alright everyone, so this is the first part of what I'm dubbing, A Continuing Nightmare Redux. I appreciated everything I've gotten in feedback and felt a bit heart warmed as some expressed they didn't see a problem with the old version or need to restart. Yet I was happy to see next to everyone seemed to want to see the rewrite as a whole. So, to give a heads up, the earlier chapters are going to be pretty similar to the old story. I want to combine some of the first ten or so chapters together so I can get to the lodge sooner and really get to the stuff I felt needed to be changed for the good of the story. I hope this will get as much support as my original version got and I hope you'll all like the changes as they come. Again, thank you all for the support you've given me, and I look forward to getting this story done right this time!