AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hey, back again. I was really happy with how the last chapter came out, so, here we are again. I know the numbers will never be as good as my other stories, but to anyone who enjoys these characters as much as me, I hope this is worth it. Anyway, my finger is jammed, so typing is a bit of a bitch, but I'm getting these out as well as I can.
Also, I wanted to say this ahead of time. The first bit of the story is going to resemble the game pretty closely. Not exactly, but closely, much like the last chapter. I do plan on making the ending different, the details of which are undecided as of now, but for the time being, I need to lay out some foundation, which means using the pre-established canon. Just don't let it turn you off or bore you, I promise things aren't going to end up the same.
"Damn it," Lee said, looking around the area. He hadn't been as fortunate as he had hoped when he came back to the road. It didn't take him long to find out where they would go next, it actually took longer to convince Clementine to leave her house.
Lee wasn't sure how he felt at that moment, but he promised himself he would keep Clementine safe until whatever this whole thing was blew over, and he intended to keep that promise.
"Swear," Clementine remarked.
Lee shot her a surprised glance and looked back to the road ahead of him.
"Yeah," Lee responded. He lifted his left arm, shaking an empty water bottle and grunting.
Lee planned on heading into his hometown, Macon, for a lot of reasons. He, for one thing, needed medical supplies, and with the state of Atlanta, Lee felt more comfortable with a smaller town. His parents owned a drug store in town, so it made perfect sense for that to be the next place for him to head.
"Are we there yet?" Clementine asked as she held Lee's hand.
Lee exhaled, questioning if he really wanted kids all that time ago.
"Yes, Clementine, we are almost there. Don't ask again, I'll tell you when we're there." Lee finished.
Clementine got very quiet. Lee looked down at her as she hung her head low. Lee never believed he would be one of those soft parents, but when he saw her so downtrodden, he caved.
Lee reciprocated Clementine's hand-hold and rubbed the back of her palm with his exponentially larger thumb. Lee didn't actually look down to see if it had any effect, but he knew. The hat-wearing girl looked up at him and smiled softly.
The two would walk like that for another half hour before arriving at the edge of Macon. Luckily for Lee, where the cop had crashed wasn't even far from his hometown, in fact, it was within a few miles. He would have his medical supplies, he would rest his leg, and his family could help him tend to Clementine. All would be well, he just had to make it to the city.
The two had been fairly lucky in not coming across many of those monsters, but in Macon, Lee expected there to at least be some hanging around, but nothing. He looked everywhere. He was familiar with the whole town, each store, each family, he saw abandoned-looking buildings everywhere. It was seriously depressing to see.
The girl made a point to stay close to Lee, per his demand, but it was appearing to be far less dangerous than he was prepared for.
They were only a few blocks away from the drug store now and there was still nothing. It was a ghost town.
That was, of course, before Lee started to hear it. Faint pitter-patters of what Lee could only assume were gunshots could be heard from hear. Lee felt Clementine squeeze his hand tight. He looked toward the direction of the gunfire and, sure enough, it was in the direction of the drugstore.
Lee picked up his pace, fearing that his family may have been in danger. Clementine had trouble keeping up, but with added vigor, she just managed to stay with him as he came to a stop.
It wasn't the drug store under siege, but a neighboring gun store, a smart place to raid. Lee would have done it himself, but with the condition of his leg, he was in no shape to clear out a gun store, nor could he deal with any monsters right now.
As he caught his breath and Clementine hers, the two trodded up to the store at a more calm pace.
The front door of the place was locked, which made Lee laugh. As they walked up to the door, Lee reached above the doorsill and pulled out a key. He smiled and looked at Clementine.
"You found a key?! That's so lucky!" Clementine rang with excitement.
Lee's replied, "Only half as lucky as when I found the key to those handcuffs," to which Clementine giggled.
Lee smiled as he twisted the key in the door's lock, hearing an affirming click on the other side. With excitement, Lee pulled the door open, allowing the girl to walk in first. What Lee saw was offputting. Not only was there no sign of his family, but there was no sign of anyone. Lee quickly made a move to lock the door behind him, feeling much less safe than before.
As they heard the door click for a second time, Lee nudged Clementine forward, walking closely behind her in a defensive position as he checked that the place was safe for her.
After a speedy but thorough check, Lee felt content with having Clementine in the store unattended.
"Lee?" Clementine called.
Lee walked over to a shelf in the store, picking through its contents as he answered "Yes?"
Clementine got up from where she was sitting and pulled on the back of his shirt, trying to get his attention. She, of course, got what she wanted, as Lee turned around to face the girl, holding an array of medical supplies that Clementine would fail to name.
He looked straight at her as he held the supplies in his arms. She finally continued, "I- I need to use the restroom."
"That's it? The key should be behind the counter over there, knock yourself out." Lee answered.
Clementine nodded, walking over to the counter. She quickly spotted the key, labeled "bathroom" and walked to the bathroom door. She stood there, nervous. She was never good at this kind of thing. She always opted to just hold it in before, but now, there was no holding it. She had to go, so she would have to "be brave" like Lee told her to.
Clementine clenched the key in her hand and lifted it to the door handle. With a push and a twist, the door clicked and Clementine could feel the knob turn.
She slowly opened the door, noticing that the lights were off in the room. She gulped and pushed the door the rest of the way open in one swift motion.
It flung all the way open much faster than she had expected, hitting the wall behind the door and making a loud noise in the process.
The room was just so dark. Clementine was never one to be afraid of the dark, but with these new threats roaming around every corner.
She gathered herself, mustering all of the courage she could into taking a step into the abyss of a room, but just before she could, she was startled by Lee's voice, "There's so much left here, we should be set for a while, or at least until this all blows over."
Clementine jumped at the sudden noise, Lee clearly wasn't helping. Clementine closed her eyes and took a deep breath, something her father taught her to control her fear.
When her eyes opened, Clementine shrieked as she saw a monster crawling at her from the shadows.
Lee heard this, turning to see Clementine with her ankle in the hand of one of those things. Lee's blood was aboil, he clenched his fists and all he heard was a ringing noise as he sprinted straight at the thing.
Clementine was freed in an instant, not a scratch on her body. She watched in fear as Lee beat the thing to a pulp, punch after punch, crushing the thing's head until it was unrecognizable. If it wasn't for what she had seen him do at her house, she would have been more afraid of him, but this, this made her feel safe, something she needed right now. Before she knew it, she had buried her face in the side of his shirt as she hugged him tightly.
Lee breathed heavily, still only hearing that ring. This was a feeling he had only felt once when he walked in on the event that would change his life only months ago. The rage faded as he came to his senses. Eventually, he felt her, clung to his side as if she were holding on for life itself.
They sat like that for a minute before Lee figured out what to tell her.
"It's alright, it can't hurt you anymore," Lee said, peeling Clementine from his side.
"I know," was her response.
Lee scratched the back of his neck, unsure of exactly what to say next. He was robbed of that choice, as the two heard pounding on the door of the pharmacy that Lee had so wisely locked.
"Get back," Lee ordered as he raised himself from the ground. Only when he knew Clementine was safe did he walk to the door. It was opaque glass, so he couldn't see all the way through it. He saw enough though. There was a person, one person. Clementine would be safer if he kept the door closed. Lee didn't want to let them in.
The person on the other side continued pounding.
Lee stared at the door with intensity, waiting in case the person was to break through. It was ballistic glass, he knew that. His parents owned the place, he was there when they built it. The person wouldn't get through. Clementine would be safe.
They wouldn't stop.
Lee stared at the door, getting lost in the rhythmic pounding.
No matter what, it was a greater risk to let whatever was pounding on the other side in if he wanted to keep Clementine safe-
The door swung open as Lee regained his focus. A man rushed into the store. Lee was stunned. Clementine had unlocked the door for the man. His emotions were in a frenzy, he was too shocked to move. The man pushed against the door to hold it closed as Clementine backed away, returning to Lee's side.
With a lot of struggle, the man managed to lock the door. He backed away from it finally and bent over, putting his hands on his knees. He breathed heavy, labored breaths. It must have been tiring to pound on that door for so long.
"Thank you," He muttered under his breath as he continued laboriously trying to catch his breath.
Lee remained silent. He looked down at Clementine, who hid behind his right leg. How could she be so afraid of the man, but be so willing to let him in? It was puzzling.
Neither of the two would speak, waiting for the man to do so.
He was relatively short, roughly five-foot-nine if Lee had to guess. He was Asian, he had black hair, a baseball hat very similar to Clementine's, and a jersey to match.
The man rose from his knees. The two stared at him, awaiting his next sentence with anticipation. Before he even met their eye line, he started "I'm Glenn."
As Lee was about to awkwardly introduce himself, Glenn started freaking out, shouting "Lee Everett?! You're… alive?"
Lee rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, pushing Clementine behind him with the other. Glenn noticed his apprehension and facepalmed.
"I- Yeah, I'm sorry, just a little surprised to see you again. Your case was the talk of the town for a while. I was on your side for the record, I-"
Lee listened with confusion, then looked down at Clementine again. Not wanting her to hear about his past yet, he cut the man off, starting with a very important question, "Were you bit?"
Glenn froze in place. Lee eyed him with intent.
"I- um… no, I didn't," Glenn said.
"Bullshit" Lee replied.
"Swear…" Clementine muttered.
"NO! No, I didn't get bit. Someone I was with did though. What- what happens if you get bit?" Glenn asked in his flustered state.
Lee took a step forward, nudging the girl to stay back. With no warning, Lee walked up to the man and lifted his shirt, looking around his waist for a bite, when he found none, he searched the man's arms in a similar fashion, still no bite.
"I'm telling you, I didn't get bit," Glenn claimed.
Lee didn't respond, he only continued checking, looking around his neck, ankles, and back. Still nothing. "Dude! What happens if you get bit?"
Lee finally stopped.
There was a pause, a brief pause, where Glenn stared at Lee for an answer and Lee stared at the ground while on one knee. Lee got to his feet and took Clementine to sit with him near the counter.
The two were alone for a moment, so Lee asked the girl a question quiet enough so Glenn couldn't hear, "Do you… still need to go?"
Clementine frowned and looked at the ground, so… there was that answer.
Lee paused, as he could feel Glenn's gaze practically burning into the back of his neck.
"Go… clean yourself up," Lee finished, dismissing Clementine.
Once she was gone, Lee walked back over to Glenn.
In a voice that Clementine wouldn't be able to hear, Lee finally gave Glenn what he wanted, "You die. Then you come back. Then you die again."
Glenn made to respond but found no words.
After a long moment of mutual eye contact between the two men, Glenn finally affirmed "I wasn't bit."
Lee eyed the man a little longer, searching for any sign that he may have been lying, but found none. Lee finished the conversation, warning the man, "That's all that matters, don't get bit, don't let people you love get bit, and make it to the next day."
Glenn nodded.
The three would remain alone in there for a long while. Lee would finally get to tend to his leg, Clementine dealt with her mess, sort of, and Glenn snacked on some energy bars laid throughout the store while he organized the supplies in order of importance.
He found two double-A batteries, which were likely an invaluable resource right now, several energy bars along with other malnutritious snacks, and finally, medical supplies. The three got used to each others' company by then and they felt safer under the same roof. Of course, that couldn't last.
It was dusk, night had barely just fallen. Lee and Glenn had arranged for shifts to sleep in, Clementine had finally accepted an energy bar, and all was quiet. They should have known to expect something to be wrong about it.
Lee was in the process of tucking Clementine in or at least trying to, and Glenn was just closing his eyes when they heard a noise at the front door of the pharmacy.
It was very quiet, an untrained ear would have missed it, it could have been passed as a pebble in the wind, but to the paranoid soul of Lee, it was clearly something, alive, dead, or in between.
His first suspicion was the obvious, another one of those undead freaks, but the longer he listened, the less he was convinced. Lee picked himself up from the ground and limped to the door of the place. He quietly placed his ear to the door and listened. There were no groans, no pounds, no unmistakable scent, no sign of the undead.
Lee was about to finally drop it, listening to his mind that told him that it was nothing, but he heard something again. A cough.
It was so obviously a person that Lee almost fell away from the door. Fear started to trickle over him. He and Glenn had no weapons beyond a pocket knife and his leg was starting to hurt again. He couldn't deal with any hostile people right now, and God knows there were lots of those. Glenn told stories of ruthless killing in the city, abandoning of children, and even sacrifices.
With each passing second, Lee's legs trembled harder. He took a deep breath, hoping to collect himself before a possible confrontation. Lee turned his head in the direction of Glenn, who sat with his hat over his eyes, then to Clementine, who sat up and watched Lee silently.
Suddenly, whoever was on the other side of that door pulled hard. Luckily, the door didn't budge, but the noise woke Glenn. As the silence remained in the room, Lee could hear mumbles of voices on the other side of the door. So there were at least two of them.
Lee waited, hoping against hope that the people would just walk away. He wasn't so lucky.
The people started knocking.
Glenn got up and quietly made his way to Lee's side. As the two readied themselves, Lee turned around and faced Clementine. She didn't dare speak a word, but her face told a story more vivid than any words could. She pled to him through her expressions. Lee fought the urge to open that door.
Clementine could get hurt, Lee told himself.
He looked to the door and back to Clementine before finally making a decision.
"Damn it," Lee muttered.
Glenn did nothing to stop Lee as he slowly twisted the lock until there was a click. At the moment, both men backed away from the door, Lee moving in front of Clementine. There was a moment of intense silence that followed. The other people must have heard the noise because even on the other side there wasn't the faintest noise.
Finally, the door opened slowly. The first person to walk in was a woman, tall, confident, holding a gun, and clearly spooked. Lee took an instinctual step back. The woman walked in, pointing the gun at both Lee and Glenn, eventually, several other people followed her in.
There was another woman with a gun, slightly shorter than the first woman and wearing work clothes. She too pointed the gun at the two people, but anyone could tell that she was less willing to pull the trigger.
"We let you in, put down the guns," Lee commanded.
"Get on your knees and put your hands behind your back," the woman countered.
Lee didn't move a muscle. He shared a moment of eye contact with Glenn, hoping that somehow he would be able to help him. Glenn made a desperate face and finally put his hands behind his head, moving to get on his knees.
The first woman, who had her gun on Glenn, moved toward Glenn, placing the barrel of her pistol to his forehead. Instantaneously, Lee sprung into action, despite his leg's greatest argument, running toward the second woman and disarming her. He took the gun right out of her hand and held it to the woman's head.
"Drop the damn gun," Lee repeated.
The woman grunted.
She pressed the tip of the gun further into Glenn's head and put her finger on the trigger.
"Don't you fuckin dare," Lee commanded.
Seeing that her threat wasn't working, the woman removed the gun from Glenn's head, pushed him to the ground, and aimed the gun in Clementine's direction.
Lee watched it all unfold and felt a familiar emotion rising in him again. Lee tightened his grip on the second woman and yelled "If you hurt a hair on her head, I'll kill both of you and every single person behind those doors."
"Lilly what the hell?!" The woman in Lee's hold yelled.
Lee saw her finger moving up to the trigger and he moved his accordingly. Lee was going to shoot first, he had to.
Just before Lee could shoot, a third person came out from behind the door, a man, he wore a hat and a large black mustache along with a face of extreme worry.
"Woah Woah Woah, can we not kill each other already?" The man asked in a southern accent.
"Tell her to get her gun off of the kid and maybe I will too," Lee reasoned.
"What the hell Lilly, did you even try talking to these people, or did you immediately just point the guns at them?" The man asked.
Several more people stood at the door to the drug store and Lee was starting to grow frustrated with how many of them there were.
Finally, the woman lowered her weapon.
"Your turn," the woman, presumably Lilly, declared.
In turn, Lee released the woman and lowered the gun.
From the door, another man broke the silence, "Gotta love first impressions," to which everybody besides Lee, Glenn, and Clementine responded, "Shut up Doug."
Lilly groaned and removed her foot from Glenn's back. Lee took this as an unspoken agreement that they were done fighting, so he walked to the door, locked it, and came back to Clementine, kneeling down to her level and asking her if she was okay, to which she nodded. Lee wished there was more he could do to make her feel better, but these were unprecedented events, so there really was nothing that he knew could help her. Reluctantly accepting this fact, Lee rose to his feet and made sure Glenn was alright before walking to the woman that he was just holding a gun to.
The woman seemed tense, which, to be fair, made total sense. Lee wasn't sure how to approach her, but if they were going to spend the night under the same roof, it felt necessary.
"Uh- Hello," Lee started.
The woman turned and faced him. She failed to hide her apprehension toward him, allowing her fear to shine through. Ultimately, she managed to respond.
"H- Hi."
Lee paused for a moment, wishing that he had thought of what to say ahead of time. Finally, he managed to think of something. The woman was messing around with a portable radio, she didn't seem to know what to do with it, so Lee offered his assistance, "You need some help with that," Lee asked.
The woman thought about it for a second, in the end, she wordlessly handed Lee the radio, maintaining eye contact with anything besides Lee.
Lee inspected the thing closely, making sure she turned it on, had it tuned, and had the antenna up, which she did. Lee continued to search for the problem while the woman asked a question.
"You from here?"
Lee didn't think much about the question. He was more focused on the radio at the time, so when he let it slip that he was, he hadn't really thought of the implications.
"Yeah, born and raised," Lee stated flatly.
The woman contemplated the answer for a second, then changed the subject, "Well- I- I'm Carley. I know that we didn't exactly start off on the right foot, but I hope that we can fix things."
Lee flipped around the radio and openned the battery slots. They were empty.
"Yeah," Lee unenthusiastically affirmed.
Carley shifted in place a little, leaning on the counter as Lee reached over to grab the two batteries that Glenn had found.
"So, how'd you… find her," Carley asked.
Lee gazed at her incredulously, turning back at the radio and sliding the batteries in.
Lee thought about how to answer that. He wasn't sure that Carley had him figured out, so maybe he could get away with a lie.
"She's my daughter," Lee explained.
The woman didn't give any reaction, giving Lee the impression that she bought his explanation. It was in his best interest that people didn't know about his past right now, especially if he was going to keep Clementine safe.
Lee flipped around the radio again and pressed the power button. Suddenly, the radio started blaring the news, which Lee very quickly turned down. Carley listened with intent as the radio spoke about the level of catastrophe in the city.
Lee already knew how bad it was. He didn't need to hear it again. Lee turned around and observed the rest of the people in the room. There were several groups. Glenn stood alone in the corner by the restrooms, the man that intervened in the scuffle before stood with what Lee could only assume were his wife and child, Lilly, the woman that threatened Clementine sat in an adjacent corner with an older man, and the other guy Doug was standing next to the doors. Lee wasn't sure who to talk to next, so he went to Clementine.
"Wanna go meet some people?" Lee asked.
Clementine rubbed her eyes and agreed.
"Yes please," Clementine said.
Lee helped her get up from where she was laying and walked with Clementine toward the man and his family.
As Lee approached, the man tensed up a bit. Clementine held Lee's hand as they got closer to the trio.
"Hello," Lee started.
The man sized Lee up with his eyes and eventually responded "We cool?"
Lee took a moment. He looked at the man, then his family.
"We have a common interest. Keeping the kids safe is what matters, and having more people is good for that. We're cool."
Lee held out his hand to the man. He shook it with little to no hesitation.
"Name's Kenny," The man said.
"Lee," Lee introduced himself.
"And who would this little one be?" Kenny asked, mentioning Clementine.
Clementine looked up to Lee, as if for permission, and when he nodded, she introduced herself, "I'm Clementine," she said.
The rest of the night would go relatively smoothly if not slightly tense. Lee slept close to Clem, and everyone kept to themselves through that night. Lee wasn't sure what the future held, not even the next day, but he felt safer, and more importantly, Clementine was safer, even if these people wanted to kill him, Clem would be safe, Lee was sure of it. So, for the first time in days, Lee was able to get some shuteye, feeling more at peace than he had since even before the world went to hell.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yo, so theres the second chapter. It was hard to find time to make it, but I'm glad I was able to get it done. I know that things might not have been as intense as the last chapter, but with what I have planned for the next, I'm sure that won't be a complaint. Plus, who doesn't like a little character development, right? As I said earlier, this story is going to be similar to the original for a little bit, but it will deviate and likely be completely different come time for even the second season, although I might still have the second group and Carver come in (undecided). Anyway, I'll see you again soon, please feel free to leave me some feedback via dm, review, follows, favorites, whatever. I'll be back soon!