ArktosFTW-When it comes to Carver, who knows who will be the one to finish him off, well I know but you'll see soon enough.
Guest-They may not have blown up at Luke but they will definitely remember it. Also what lead to them easing off was Clem telling them to let it go.
Smeake- Thanks, glad you liked it.
Fewpolecat93-I have a bit of a plan for Matthew and it would feel a bit shallow for him to die just after I saved him.
Jason Kreuger Myers-Glad you are liking Lee and Molly as well as the story in general. As for Kenny he is the type of guy that you need in this world, he just isn't the one who should be leading but with Lee leading and Kenny being his second in command who knows what they could accomplish.
Worker72-To me if Carlos was a real doctor or not was alway irrelevant, he just took up the job and he was able to look over Clem's wound after she patched herself up so he knows at least a small amount.
I87-I have no plans as of now to kill off Molly but I can't say I won't ever, who knows what could happen in this world…
Guest-Right now haha, and glad you like the story.
Enjoy
Lee and the others sat in the truck each tied up. Lee having on other arm had his one arm handcuffed to the wall that had a pipe running along the inside of the truck. Lee's heart was beating a hundred miles an hour as Sarah and Clementine both had gotten out of the truck to use the bathroom, "There not back yet." He said with a worried tone,
"It's only been a few minutes." Nick said trying to calm him. Lee seemed to not even hear him as he looked back to his pipe and started to pull on it hardly,
"What are you doing?" Sarita asked with a worried tone,
"I'm getting out of this fucking thing." Lee shot back as he yanked against the pipe, "We can still take these guys, surprise them."
"He's right, we can't just get up." Kenny said with a nod, "We just need to get outta our ties."
"Guys look around, we don't have this in us." Molly said motioning to Rebecca and Matthew who were sitting in states of shock and sadness. Kenny's eyes softened and he looked away from them not wanting to look them in the eye as he was the cause of Walter's and Alvins deaths.
"I'm not gonna just-" Lee started to say as he heard a noise just outside the van and a soft whimper. "What the fuck was that." Lee said narrowing his eyes. The van's doors opened, Sarah and Clem hopped inside and Lee's eyes widened as he could see a red mark on Clem's cheek, "YOU FUCKER! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU, YOU HEAR ME!" Lee boomed out causing everyone to jump in shock as he pulled against the pipe wildly.
Troy let out a scoff and slammed the doors shut as Kenny looked over to Clem, "Hey, what happened? Did they hurt you?" He asked sincerely,
Nearly three hours later the group was sitting silently while Lee was kneeling down taking heavy breaths, despite his best efforts he just wasn't strong enough to pull the pipe off. Molly scooted over to him and put her hands onto his shoulder, "You gotta stop, keep a cool head." She said soothingly,
"Fuck that. As soon as I get my strength back I'm ripping this fucker off." Lee grumbled back to her,
Kenny let out a small nod and started to look around, "Okay even if Lee can get out of his cuffs he's gonna need some help. So anyone got anything sharp, anything that we can use to cut these ties off?" Kenny looked around and saw no one really moving, "Clem, Clem look around see if you can find anything sharp that could help."
"What good is that gonna do?" Rebecca said coldly,
"It's no use, the both of you should just stop." Carlos said dismissively,
"The hell is wrong with you people?" Kenny said nearly disgusted,
"We need to get the fuck out of here. We can't just give up." Lee said as he stood back up and started to pull against the pipe again,
"Damn right, we are in a precarious situation here." Kenny said with a nod, "Listen to Lee, we have to do something about it!"
"Settle down, the both of you." Carlos said sternly, "They took everything, we have to keep a level head."
"I hate to not back you guys up here but jumping out a going fucking Rambo isn't going to work here." Molly said as easily as she could,
Lee looked back at her coldly as he continued to pull against his pipe, "Are you fucking kidding me?" Kenny shot out, "Us getting closed up in their home turf is the perfect way for us to die, we've been in this situation before and barely got out of it. Clem you remember, the dairy right?" Kenny said looking over to her and she let out a slow nod, "This is just like that we can't let them trap us up like that."
Lee let out a loud groan and suddenly a piece of the pipe bent out and he flew to the ground. Kenny looked over to him and smiled as Lee sat up and looked at him with a smirk, "Now we're talking, alright pal we can do this."
"No you don't understand, you don't know Bill like we do." Rebecca said with a small amount of fear in her voice,
"Bill? This whole time it's been Carver, Carver, Carver, now he's fuckin' Bill?" Kenny asked angrily causing Rebecca to hang her head,
"Wait a minute." Lee said making everyone to look over at him, "You said you were being chased, you used to be with the fucker weren't you?" Lee said looking around at their faces,
Kenny's eyes widened, "You mean to tell me you guys are just getting a fucking ride home?!"
"Say that again." Nick said aggressively with his face twisting in anger,
"I'd stay outta this boy." Kenny shot back to him,
"Mister I ain't a boy." Nick said defensively,
"No, right, you're a man." Kenny said sarcastically,
"Stop, we need to work together here. He's only got two people with him. We get a gun and this will be pretty much over." Lee said trying to keep Kenny and the others on point,
"You don't understand, he's different now. He's worse." Rebecca said trying to stop them,
"What do you mean worse?" Clementine asked now curious how far their relationship went,
"He's a fucking psychopath now." Kenny said with a scoff,
"You have no idea what you're dealing with!" Carlos shouted out angrily,
"Oh he gave us a pretty good idea back in the lodge and that's why me and Lee here don't want to sit around until he decides do that to the rest of us!" Kenny shot back,
"We are trying to help!" Lee shouted out growing angry,
"Yeah, I'm sure Walter and Alvin really appreciated your help." Carlos said harshly causing Kenny's face to sink and Matthew to bury his face in his hands as he began to sob,
"Shut your fucking mouth." Lee said aggressively, "Don't you dare put that on us, Carver's the one who killed them."
"He's right, you can't blame him for the actions of a mad man." Sarita said in defense of Kenny,
"I am just pointing out, regardless of intent, there are consequences to rash actions. Something they are misreading as capitulation!" Carlos angrily explained,
"I don't know what the fuck you're saying, but I know it's bullshit! Lee, help me get outta this fucking thing." Kenny said getting to his feet,
"Will you two sit down! You'll get us all killed." Carlos said quickly,
Lee and Kenny ignored him as Kenny cut his binds off using a jagged piece of metal from the pipe Lee broke off, "If we have to drag you to fucking freedom, fine." Lee grumbled out,
"You'll drag us to our deaths." Rebecca said with a quiver in her voice,
"Stop Fighting! Please!" Clem cried out stopping them dead,
Kenny's binds fell to the floor and he let out a smile, "Now we're talking."
"You don't get it, Carver will be on the other side of that door with ten men, not two." Carlos quickly said, "Right now, Luke may be the only hope we have."
"Fuck that, that guy's a flake, I could tell the first minute I saw him. He abandoned us!" Kenny said with a scoff,
"You don't know that!" Nick shot out quickly,
"Look maybe he's out there, maybe not but he's not here now. I don't want any more of our people to get hurt but this is our best shot at getting out of here." Lee said trying to explain his reasoning,
"Luke will help us." Clem said looking up to Lee and Kenny,
"When?! After that crazy fuck has killed us all!?" Kenny shouted at Clem causing her to look up at him fearfully,
Lee narrowed his eyes and grabbed Kenny's shirt, "Calm down!"
"I am fucking calm! Do I look fucking angry to you!?" Kenny shouted into his face,
"Yeah you fucking do! If we are doing this we gotta be smart, we can't start this half cocked." Lee quickly shot back causing Kenny to take a deep breath and calm himself, "Clem, honey do you trust me?" Lee said looking back to her. Clem stared at him for a minute before letting out a slow nod, "Okay then listen to me, we have to do something now."
"And what is your plan exactly?" Carlos asked dismissively,
"I'm gonna punch the first sonofabitch I see then take his gun and use it to shoot the next sonofabitch I see!" Kenny shot back. Lee walked over to the pipe and after wiggling it a bit a piece came off, "Even better, now we got a weapon."
Suddenly they could feel the truck come to a halt and start to back up, "We're here." Nick said with a shallow voice,
"Then we gotta do this now. Clem, do what you can to help. Don't get yourself hurt or anything but just help out you know." Kenny said with a hopeful look. Suddenly Molly got up and grabbed the pipe out of Lee's hand and hit him on the head sending him to the ground. Kenny looked over to her in shock but the truck shifted sending him forward and smashing his body into the doors knocking him to the ground,
"That was...probably for the best." Carlos said in shock,
"Why did you do that?" Clem said confused,
"I don't want him getting hurt." Molly said holding Lee's head in her lap tenderly, "He's gonna be pissed at me later though."
Just then the doors rolled open, Troy and Bonnie were standing there with along with another woman, they all held assualt rifles. "Alright up and-The fuck happened to your binds?!" Troy yelled out as he looked at Kenny and Lee,
"Let's just get them to the pen." The black woman said quickly,
Troy let out a scoff, "Fine. Everyone get the fuck up and no funny business!" Troy said sternly with a hard look. Molly helped Lee get to his feet and everyone else slowly shuffled out of the van. They couldn't help but notice two big things, one being the large amount of food stocks all around the room and two being Carver's voice ringing out across the building over an intercom.
"Arrogant prick." Molly mumbled out,
"You can say that again." Lee said with narrowed eyes as they were marched through the large hardware store as Carver explained that they would need to forgive there old and new friends for any trouble they did and that over time they would be part of the family.
"Look at all the food Lee." Clem said with her eyes bugging out a bit, she'd never seen this much food in one location ever since the start of this apocalypse,
"I know honey." Lee said with a small nod,
"You better not be saying what I think you're saying." Kenny quickly chimed in,
"Just keep walking." Lee said quickly and coldly. Molly looked up at him and could tell Lee was practically fuming at this point and this worried her. Despite his temper they never had to worry about keeping it together so tightly, the last thing she wanted was for him to snap and get killed.
The group continued to march through the warehouse until Tavia took Carlos and brought him to the infirmary of the building. Sarah panicked but Clementine was able to calm her until they reached the pen which turned out to be an outdoor garden area with a campfire in the center. Bonnie and Troy quickly took off everyone's binds, "Better get a good night's rest cause there ain't gonna be any for you tomorrow. Ya'll gonna be working hard." Troy said with a bit of a grin before he and Bonnie exited the pen and shut the sliding door locking them inside.
"Hey guys." A voice said from behind the group. Everyone turned around and saw a indian man who was missing one arm,
"Reggie! Oh god sweetie, I'm so sorry. What did they do to you?" Rebecca said pulling him into a hug,
"This could have been a lot worse, and don't worry this happened a long time after you left." Reggie said motioning to his stump. He looked up and saw Lee and quickly noticed his arm was missing as well, "Hey if we work together we can become a whole person again." He said trying to joke with him, Lee gave him a cold gaze before walking past the group, Lee began to silently look around, "So I'm guessing comedy isn't that guy's strong suit?" Reggie asked softly,
"He's just pissed, I have to talk to him." Molly said as she too walked past Reggie and started heading to Lee,
"Right...okay so here's the thing, I am so close to being let out of here and if nothing happens tonight that will just get that much closer. So if you guys help me out with that I can help you guys once I get out." Reggie said with a hopeful look,
Matthew shuffled past him and headed towards the corner of the room and sat down silently. Reggie looked at him worried, "Is that guy okay? He didn't even seem to hear a word I said."
"He's been through alot." Nick said hanging his head,
"Hang on, where's Luke? And Pete?" Reggie asked looking around,
"Pete's dead." Nick replied with a small break in his voice,
"Christ, Nick i'm so sorry." Reggie said putting his hand on his shoulder,
"It's fine, I'm just gonna...gonna grab some sleep." Nick said as he too walked away towards the back,
"Who's she?" Clem said looking back to a short haired woman who noticed her looking and quickly got up and walked away,
"Okay so she is fucking crazy." Reggie whispered back to Clem, "We found her outside covered in guts and shit, really fucking gross."
"Hey! Could you guys keep it down!" A man shouted from the back,
"Yeah sorry Mike!" Reggie called back, "That's Mike, he's the one who cut off my arm. He's usually a nice guy but a total dick when he's tired."
The gate opened behind them and Carlos was lead back in, Sarah quickly ran over and hugged him tightly. As this happened the group dispersed and everyone headed out to find a place to sleep, much to Rebecca's distaste Carver left her, her own personal bed. Kenny headed over to go and talk to Lee.
Molly and Lee on the other hand were having their own conversation, "Hey, you gonna talk to me?" Molly asked as she watched Lee continue to look for weak points around the room,
"What's there to talk about?" Lee said with a shrug,
"Don't do that," Molly said grabbing his arm and forcing him to turn to her, "I did what I had to so you didn't end up dead."
Lee stared at her for a moment holding a gaze that Molly was unable to decipher as anger or sadness. "I know, it was a shit plan." Lee finally admitted. Molly let out a short exhale of relief, "That fucker hit Clem, I know it was him. I wanted to tear his fucking throat out, still do." Lee said crouching down and sitting on the ground,
Molly sat down next to him, "I know, but that plan was never going to work." Molly said softly,
"Yeah, I just-we can't stay here. This guy, he'll kill us. I'm sure of it." Lee said looking over to her for support,
"You're right, we just need to come up with a plan. One that can get us out of this mess and keep us alive." Molly said with a nod,
Lee let out a nod before putting his arm out and pulling her close to him, letting her head rest on his shoulder, "I'm sorry for how I acted, and thank you for saving me." Lee warmly,
"Some things never change right?" Molly said with a smirk before giving him a small kiss.
At this point Kenny walked over and Lee got to his feet, "Right so you see any way outta here? Me and Clem couldn't find shit."
"No, but we should just stop for the night." Lee said while looking around,
"Are you fucking-" Kenny started to say only for Lee to cut him off,
"Tomorrow they let us out of the pen, we can learn about this building and maybe smuggle something in her to help us. I know we gotta get out of her but we aren't doing it tonight. So take your anger and just swallow it." Lee said roughly,
Kenny stared at him for a minute before take a short breath, "Right, okay. Tomorrow I'll keep an eye out for patrols and shit, let you know what I learn."
"Good." Lee said pushing past him and heading over to Clementine. "Not exactly the ski lodge is it?" He said with a small smirk from behind her,
"No." She said shaking her head before turning back to him,
Lee crouched down, "How are you sweetie." He asked sincerely,
"I'm fine I guess." Clem said with a shrug of her shoulders,
"Clem...I-" Lee said trying to find the right way to phrase this, "Look, I don't mean to be such an ass. I'm just trying to do what's best to keep us safe."
"I know." Clem said with a small smile, "You don't scare me Lee, I know you're just trying to protect me."
"Yeah but I know you see me differently now. I just want you to know that I'm just doing the best I can here Clem and I hope you will see that." Lee said with a weak smile,
Clem rolled her eyes and walked forward hugging Lee tightly, "It's okay Lee, I trust you." She said sincerely before pulling back.
Lee let out a warm smile before standing up, "Guess we should find a spot to sleep huh?"
"Yeah…" Clem said with a small grimace as she saw the wooden bunks with simple pillows on top.
Alright so the characters have now entered Howes, Lee is already on board with killing Carver probably more than anyone else right now. Kenny is being a bit more controlled since he has at least one other person thinking like he is and Matthew is emotionally devastated as of now. Needless to say things are already dicey for the group and it's probably gonna get worse before it gets better.