Thedarkpokemaster- Yeah it's nice to explore these darker moments in Kenny and Lee's lives as I felt like I didn't explore them enough. I delve into Lee a bit this chapter and next time I'll show more of Kenny, hope you like it pal.
Worker72- Yeah expanding Sarita is going to be pretty fun as I have a little arc planned for her early on to show who she is and how her and Kenny's relationship will start to grow. I hope you like this chapter too!
Smeake- No worries bud, just glad to hear from you again, hope you like this chapter.
Supernova1219- Thanks for the review pal, glad you've been liking everything so far and I hope you'll be liking where the story goes from here as it's gonna start to change from my last version a whole lot. In the future chapters, as well as this one, Lee's psyche is going to be a major focus point.
DragonSkaterOfAwesomism- Yeah them running into one another is coincidental but with the four all heading north in and still in Georgia it felt like it'd make the most sense for them to find each other sooner than bumping into one another in like Tennessee. Regardless glad you've liked the story so far!
Enjoy
Nearly a month had come and gone as Kenny plotted the best route for the group to take up north. Sticking to the highways would cut time but blocked streets, herds, and fuel would undoubtedly slow them down. Not to mention having to look for a safe place to hold up every night was cutting at least three hours off travel time a day. Lee quickly knew something had to change, getting at best six hours of travel a day that was shortened even longer by roadblocks and scavenging wasn't going to work.
It wasn't long before Kenny knew this too, and the southern man immediately got an idea in his head to fix their problem, an RV. In his mind upgrading from a cramped station wagon to a home on wheels would keep them mobile and cut out the three hours or so they used a day to find somewhere safe to stay at night. Not to mention give them all a little more breathing room between one another. So far, however, their efforts had been in vain and the station wagon was the only constant, secure vehicle they came across through their journey through Georgia.
Just as the group of four were close to reaching the state line, Kenny found himself fed up beyond words. With Lee sitting next to him in the front seat and the girls asleep in the back, he looked over to the man and let out a low exhale, "How you feeling, pal?"
"Huh?" Lee grunted back, the question startling him from his own thoughts,
"How are you feeling? You know, with your...situation? No more problems?" Kenny clarified while glancing to Lee's stump,
"Oh right, yeah, yeah," Lee nodded while rubbing his eyes slowly, "That infection that showed last week is gone, you don't need to worry about me Ken,"
"I know, I know," Kenny replied trying to avoid a debate, "I just wanted to make sure you're up for what we got to do. Stopping a bit longer to make sure you're healed up right is a hell of a lot better than stopping every few days...or...losing you altogether," Kenny tentatively explained, "And I need you on top of your game pal, we're gonna have to work on getting rid of this car and finding something better for a cross country journey,"
Lee let out a long exhale and returned to let his head lay on against the window, "Well, that about leaves only one option, another fucking RV,"
"Ain't gonna be like last time, we find one, get it running and just fucking go. If we can't fix it fast, then we move on until we find another. No matter what, we don't stop moving unless we fucking have to," Kenny said with a firm wag of his finger, "You're with me on that, right?"
"Yeah, whatever you say, I'm just following," Lee muttered back,
Kenny glanced over to Lee, his brow slightly furrowed for a moment before his eyes drooping and he merely started to look at his friend in sympathy, "Lee, I know how you're feeling," The middle-aged fisherman lowly said, "Same way I've been feeling every damn day,"
Lee shut his eyes and tightened his lips, fighting back the swelling of an emotion building in him, "I...I had her, right in my hands," Lee all but whispered back, "And I sent her away, sent her out into all this mess alone. She's gone because of me. I wasn't strong enough, I just gave up."
"Knock that shit off," Kenny immediately replied, "You did all you coulda done. You fought your way through a walker filled city, got her away from that psycho fuck, hell you gave your arm for that girl, nearly your life too. You can't blame yourself for doing what you did, it wasn't a choice, it was the only thing you coulda done. You did the best you could,"
"It wasn't enough though was it? Here we are, driving without here, that's on me," Lee muttered back to the man,
Kenny let out a grunt and shook his head, "Look, I get it, I was feeling the same damn way. Mad at myself, mad at the whole world. I lost the only thing I cared about, and every day it doesn't get a bit easier. I miss them, I'd give anything just to have five more minutes with them but that's just not how this world works. You gotta find another reason to keep going, it's the only thing that will help you. Wellington, you, Molly, Sarita, that's what keeps me going now, you can't give up, ever."
Lee lifted his hand and slowly rubbed his eyes, "I screwed up my life, you know? My wife, I wasn't there for her, fought too much, drove her away. Then when I caught her with that guy, I killed him. I can't imagine how traumatic that must have been for her, and I lost her forever, that I knew. My parents, my brother, I ruined their lives too. Tainted our name, and shamed them and I never saw them once after word came out about what I'd done. Still, when everything went to hell, I needed to find them, try and protect them and maybe gain forgiveness, but they were dead. I had to put down my brother that night in the drugstore and after that, I only had one thing I was supposed to do. Protect Clem." Lee hardly stated, "That was my reason to keep going, and I failed that too, and now...I'm lost,"
Kenny pressed his lips together and merely focused his eyes on the road, if there was an answer that Lee needed to hear to fix what he was feeling, he didn't know it. Hell, if there was such an answer he could use it too. All the anger, hatred, and despair that swelled inside him was undoubtedly in Lee too now, and there was no easy or quick way to get rid of that. "You should get some shut-eye, need you rested by tonight, gonna have to find a place to hunker down again in a few hours," The southern man softly said causing Lee to nod and let his head rest against the window once more.
Minutes passed and after focusing on the hum of the car's engine Lee was asleep, though this offered no respite from the pain within him. Lee found himself back inside the Marsh house, sitting across from the stranger once more, only this time the man had a single bullet wound in his head and his eyes were milk-white. "I'm not a monster like you," The man's voice said, echoing into the room, "You're a killer, and a thief, Lee. No one is safe when they're with you, you're toxic, a plague worse than the one out there."
Lee blinked rapidly and attempted to stand but his body refused to move from the chair, forcing him to continue to stare at the stranger's unending gaze. Lee opened his mouth, ready to defend himself once more though he only felt horror as he heard what left his mouth, "I killed your family, I killed you, and I killed Clementine,"
The stranger slowly nodded, "I knew you would, I knew that you'd fail that little girl, that's why I tried desperately to rescue her from you, but you couldn't see that. You were selfish!" The man shouted,
Lee almost trembled as the voice boomed around him but he attempted to fight back against him, "I did everything I could to protect her, as if you could have done better,"
"That is exactly what I would have done!" The stranger snarled back, "But you took that chance away and now we're both dead, Lee! Why would you do that?! How much more blood do you need on your hands!?" The man continued to scream while raising his gun and leveling it to Lee's head, "Why don't you just fucking die!" He finished just as he pulled the trigger.
Lee snapped awake in the car, his heart pounding and beads of sweat dotting his forehead, he looked around rapidly and only found Molly in the driver seat looking back at him, "Christ, you okay, Lee?" The blonde girl asked with a raised brow,
"Y-Yeah," Lee sighed back falling back into his seat in relief, wiping his forehead dry, "I'm fine,"
"Nightmare?" Molly asked back,
"One that never fucking ends," Lee muttered back,
Molly turned her focus back to the road, ignoring Lee's comment for just a moment before her eyes flicked back to him, "You...You want to talk about it?" She asked, the question itself coming out of her as an unsure offer,
"No, thanks, but I just need to forget it," Lee dryly replied, "What time is it?"
"Close to five," Molly replied, "Gramps wanted to take a nap too so I got the driver seat," The blonde continued, "But it's gonna be dark soon so we better get act two of our show on the road," Molly turned the wheel and took the car off the highway and onto the nearest exit, "We should be able to find someplace close and secure for the night. Hey, frick and frack, up and attem!" Molly called out into the backseat awaking both Kenny and Sarita,
"My goodness, a simple "hey wake up you two" would have sufficed," Sarita gasped as she lifted her head off Kenny's shoulder,
"Yeah, Christ Molly, I ain't got enough food or sleep in me to be dealing with a blow horn wake up call," Kenny muttered back,
"Right, right, so sorry to interrupt your snuggle time back there but I'm pulling us off the highway, it's getting late and we need to clear a place out for the night," Molly retorted with indifference causing Sarita to slightly blush and look away from Kenny,
"I didn't...I was asleep, I'm sorry if I ended up resting against you," Sarita softly apologized to Kenny who rubbed the back of his neck and merely nodded back,
Lee looked over to Molly who smirked back at him, "Satisfied with yourself?" Lee asked with a toss of his eyes,
"Closest thing to entertainment I got now," Molly grinned back,
The group turned silent once more as they drove down the exit and entered a small town. A few hotels, fast food restaurants, gas stations, and stores dotted the streets along with just a couple of houses further down the roads, "How far out did we get?" Lee asked
"We're still in Georgia, getting close to the border of Tennessee," Kenny replied as he sat up, "Like I said, all these short days, and that stint with your arm has held us up. The first thing we should do is take a ride around town, check out what we see, maybe if we're lucky we'll find a new ride,"
"God, you're like a skipping record, gramps," Molly sighed as she turned the car left onto a new street, "We all know the routine by now,"
"Molly, he's just trying to keep us all focused and determined so we get to Wellington quickly and safely," Sarita defended,
"Yeah, and your snarky attitude is getting a little fucking stale, so why don't you cool it with that," Kenny added on,
"Alright, let's just cool it, a month in this car and we're all starting to get on each other's nerves a bit," Lee quickly jumped in, "Ken, Sarita why don't you two take the car and keep looking for the RV, Molly and I can take the gas can and siphon what we can. Give us all a break from each other, huh?"
"Fine, sounds like a plan," Kenny agreed as Molly abruptly stopped the car and got out.
Lee followed suit, stopping only for a quick moment to grab a gas can and tube from the trunk before heading back up the street with Molly. As Kenny and Sarita got into the front of the car and drove off Molly shook her head in irritation, "If that baseball hat wearing fuck doesn't stop getting on my nerves, I am going to shove it right up his ass," The blonde girl hissed out,
"C'mon, you know arguing and being sarcastic with him only makes things worse, you two argue like siblings," Lee replied, slightly amused with that fact,
"Oh shut the fuck up," Molly said with a short laugh, "I don't want to think about being related to that prick, thanks," Lee let out a short breathy laugh and nodded back, dropping the thought, "Still, better than drooling over him, Sarita can't get enough of him, and I'll never understand it," Lee's smile faded away and after a moment of silence Molly cleared her throat and spoke up once more, "So, Wellington, you haven't really said anything about it in this last month, what do you make of it?"
"Better than any plan I had before that truck stop," Lee muttered back,
"Oh yeah, a hell of a lot better than finding a good spot to hunker down, let's just travel cross fucking country, right?" Molly grunted back though Lee didn't seem fazed by her outburst, "Hey, wake up!" Molly shouted while giving Lee a sharp elbow,
"What?!" Lee barked back, looking over to her with a hard glare,
"What?" Molly echoed with a look of disbelief, "You! This last month you've been acting like one of these fucking geeks, you just walk around, dead-eyed, nothing to say. You need to snap out of this and wake up!"
"And that's a fucking problem? What would you have me do?" Lee snapped back, "I'm here, I'm helping, that's more than I expected to ever be doing again a month ago,"
"You're not dead, Lee, no matter as much as you want to be," Molly sharply replied causing Lee to slowly hang his head, "You're not, alright," Molly repeated this time in a soft tone, "You walked into a damn horde with a meat cleaver, you can't keep going like this, you need to come back,"
"Look, I know, I know," Lee softly replied, shaking his head slowly, "But what can I do, it's not like I can just decide to get over it. Right now, waking up and making it through the day is the best I got,"
Molly nodded and gently put a hand on his back, "I get it, I'm sorry, I get what's going through your head. When I lost my sister…" Molly began to explain before the pair halted in their tracks, "Lee, tell me you see that,"
"Yeah, I see it," Lee nodded back, his lips curling into a smile as the pair saw the front of an RV sticking out from a driveway by a house up the block, "C'mon, let's go check it out, Kenny and Sarita should be circling around soon, they'll see it,"
The pair took off into a light jog, heading right towards the vehicle, "Holy shit, look at that thing, it's one of those newer ones, beds, kitchen, everything right inside. Jesus, probably a bathroom too, god, I could get a little peace from that moron when he starts barking over nothing," Molly grinned as they closed in to the house,
"Let's just see if it runs first, no need to get our hopes up until then," Lee reminded her as they reached the driveway, "Though, gotta admit, the thing doesn't look like it's in that rough shape,"
"Let's go check this fucker out then," Molly said as she took a step forward, yet the pair only heard the distinct sound of a shotgun pump loading around,
"You'll be doing no such thing," A stern voice said from the front door of the house, "Hands up,"
Alright everyone, sorry for the wait on this chapter, as this one turned away from the simple rewrite into a new idea all it's own. I wanted to spice things up a little and give Lee, Molly, Kenny, and Sarita a little side story on their trip up north instead of just skipping past it this time around. It won't be very long but I wanted things to be a bit more different early on too and also realistic as never seeing another human on their journey always struck me as a bit odd. Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter, it was fun to write, and the next one will be much more of an original one rather than a rewrite, look forward to seeing what you guys think!