The Good The Bad X-Boy-Glad you liked the chapter, I'm happy that some people are okay with how I ended both Troy and Carver. And of course I wanted to get a little snappy comeback from Lee towards Jame because her selfish tendencies do not mix well with him.
CosmicArmor-Sorry to keep you waiting but I hope that little finale for Carver's part was decent enough. Ah another who isn't having any of Jane's ideology about survival, guess I got a lot of Team Kenny readers, and that's a okay with me.
Guest-Well we all remember how Kenny was after Sarita died, he scared everyone but Clem and took out his anger on her as well. Now with Lee around and what Lee did...well just read on.
FocUs24-Oh how could I kill Molly off already, i'm having way too much fun with her and Lee. Now can I say that Lee is going to go on a Kenny route against Jane, all I'll say is he won't be exactly the same.
Fewpolecat93-Thanks for the review and glad you liked Carver's death, thought it would be nicer for it to change up a bit. Anyway hope you like this one.
Worker72-Right so this story is based all on if Lee was alive and still in the group. The thing is Lee can't change everything, regardless with Lee being there Carlos still would have been shot and Sarita still would have been bitten and killed. As for Carver, I want this story to start moving into a more original direction, the longer the story stayed around Carver the less interesting it was to me. Anyway the point I was getting at was, I'm not changing the story whenever I want, I only want to change it when Lee or Molly could make an actual impact, like with Matthew. So that's my thought process, hope that makes sense.
Percabeth4lyfee-Well glad you liked the story and I checked out yours, and it reminds me of some of my older stuff. So yeah it's not t0o bad for sure, hope you like this chapter as well.
Enjoy
"Thank fucking Christ, I lost you in that herd so I heard the screams...I thought…" Molly said softly as embraced Lee with a tight hug,
"It's alright, Clem was looking out for me." Lee said with a little smile as he looked over to her.
Clementine wasn't paying attention to him in the slightest, she was staring right at Kenny who was staring at the ground with a destroyed expression lingering on his face. "How is he?" She asked no one in particular,
"Bad," Mike said as he crossed his arms and peered over to him, "All he's done since we got here is sit there. Tried to talk to him before, blew up at me. Shouting, some really scary shit." Mike added on,
"Have you guys seen Luke or Nick?" Rebecca asked,
"They went after Sarah, Matthew was with them." Clementine pipped in,
Bonnie slowly shook her head, "Nothing."
Jane looked around the camp, "Look…" She said rubbing the back of her neck, "I get that you want to wait for your friends but we can't stay here. I mean just look around." Jane said causing the others to glance around. Jane did have a point, they were sitting in a field with a little monument fountain. If anything, living or dead, came by they would see them for sure.
Lee continued to stare at Kenny concerned for his well being, "I'm gonna go talk with him. That man has been too much for one lifetime." He mumbled out as he walked past the group,
"What exactly happened Clem?" Molly asked as she watched Lee,
Clem hung her head before saying, "Sarita died." She felt guilt for cutting off her hand right then and getting her killed for sure. "I hope Kenny is going to be okay."
Lee walked over to Kenny, now where a rag around his missing eye that was soaked with blood, he heard him whispering to himself, "God Sarita, i'm sorry. I can't be alone again." As Lee walked into his view he looked up at him with a cold, piercing stare, "You don't think I know what y'all are whispering about over there? "What's wrong with Kenny? Why's Kenny acting that way? Do you think Kenny's okay?" Kenny took a short pause then with a gravelly voice said, "That's all I hear from anyone anymore."
Lee could feel the contempt that Kenny was feeling for him. He took a slow breath, "Ken, I-i'm sorry about Sarita-"
"Sorry huh?" Kenny said with a short scoff, "Well that's nice of ya, seeing how this was your fault in the first place." Lee stared at him with a narrowed gaze at the insult, "Shoulda known better than to trust a man who's been fuckin bit before."
"Kenny it was our only chance." Lee said with a slightly agitated voice,
"I can't even look at you." Kenny said disgusted, "You cleaved her face in two. That's the kinda man you are Lee. You don't care 'bout anyone but yourself." He hissed at him,
"Being angry isn't gonna fix anything, we need to figure out a plan." Lee said trying to snap him out of this,
"Plan? You want a fucking plan Lee? Well we got nothing!" He barked out causing everyone to look over to the two, "There ain't no magical fucking Rv. No life saving train or boat to pull our ass's out of the fire. We are fucked!" Kenny said his eye glowing with fury,
"Kenny you can't just give up like this, Sarita wouldn't want you to just stop going." Lee said sympathetically,
"And what would you know about what she wants? You're just a murderer Lee, killed your wife then you killed mine." Kenny growled out as he stood up, "Shoulda left you back on that road where Carly died! You're not my friend, you've never been one!"
Lee narrowed his eyes and took a step towards him, "I won't say this again, knock this shit off. Don't make me knock you on your ass."
"Fuck you Lee!" Kenny shouted out and quickly took a swing at him. The others stood shocked for a moment as Lee quickly ducked under the strike. "You've always been an asshole! You don't have my back! You never did, you only look out for yourself!" He shouted wildly as he grabbed onto Lee's shirt,
"I've been there for you Kenny! Remember Duck, Katjaa? I helped you through that!" Lee shouted back as he struggled against his grasp. The pair fell to the ground and Kenny pulled his fist back ready to slam it into Lee's face. Yet his hand began to shake as he stared at Lee's face, Lee simply looked back at him with a mixed look of disappointment and anger. Kenny's face tightened and he closed his eye before pushing himself off of Lee and storming into a nearby tent.
Lee slowly sat up, Clem and Molly came rushing to his side as he stared at the tent, "Are you alright?" Molly asked quickly,
"I'm fine." Lee said stoically as he watched Kenny and lingered on the entrance to the tent as he disappeared into it. Lee slowly pulled himself off the ground and rubbed the back of his head.
Molly let out a frown and stared at the tent, "What the fuck is wrong with him. He can't just blame you for this."
"It's how he grieves, the man has already been through hell once before. Too go back through it all again...gotta keep an eye on him. Don't know what he could do." Lee said with a concerned tone.
The three slowly got up and headed back towards the rest of the group, as they walked Lee could see Clem sulking with a guilty look plastered all over her face, "Clem, you don't worry about that. This isn't your fault." Lee said firmly,
"Okay." Clem replied halfheartedly as she stared at the ground,
As they reached the rest of the group Rebecca was the first to speak up, "Lee honey, are you alright?"
"It's fine," He said with a quick glance back towards the tent, "Just need to keep an eye on him."
Jane who was slightly pacing around returned to the group, "Look we can't stay here, we don't know what could be lurking around in those woods. They will see us before we see them, that's a fact." Jane looked down at Clem, "Why don't me and the kid do a little scout around, see if we can see the rest of your friends."
Lee let out a frown, "I don't know-" He began to say,
"Sounds like a good idea, i'll go with you two." Molly said with a nod, "Quicker the others get here the quicker we can get the fuck out of here."
Lee rubbed his brow with his hand and sighed, "Alright fair enough, i'll come too."
"No you'll stay here." Molly said as she walked over to the stump she rested her items on and picked up a knife,
"Excuse me?" Lee said gruffly,
"You need to be the one to watch over Kenny, you're the only one with a gun. You need to be here...just incase." Molly said looking over to the tent then back to Lee. Lee stared at her for a long while, arguing internally before he let out a short, stiff nod. Molly let out a little smile and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. She turned around and the followed both Jane and Clem out of their camp and towards the woods. Lee let out a worried exhale and began to walk the perimeter of the camp, keeping watch. It was the only thing he could think of doing to keep his mind occupied.
Nearly twenty minutes later in the forest Molly could tell what happened with Sarita was really eating away at Clem. She walked up to the kid and gave her a little smile, "Alright kid, what's up. You're never this quiet." She said trying to ease into a conversation,
"Nothing, i'm fine." Clem mumbled back to her,
"You know you and Lee have a lot in common." She put her arm around Clem and smirked, "One of those things is you're horrible liars. Come on, tell me what's going on."
Clem looked up at her then back down at the ground. She let out a long sigh and finally spoke up, "I killed Sarita."
Molly looked at her dismissively, "What are you talking about?"
"She got bit and I cut off her arm. I heard Lee tell me not too and I still did it. Now she's dead, it's my fault." Clem said as crossed her arms and hugged herself,
"No Clem that's not your fault, you tried to save her. You can't blame yourself." Molly said softly,
"She's right kid, you did what you thought was right. That's all anybody can do in that situation." Jane piped in, "You acted. You did a hell of a lot more than the others." Jane added on. Molly looked up at her with a raised brow as she lead them along, "That group is breaking down, you really shouldn't be around when it collapses. It's not going to be pretty."
"What are you talking about?" Molly finally asked,
"I'm talking about, how sooner or later that group of people back there is going to break. The fallout will be enormous, so if I was you I'd get out while you still can. You, the kid...maybe that guy Lee but that's all. The others, there's no point. They don't know how to survive." Jane explained as she stopped at a husk of a car and began to search it,
Clementine walked over to her and peered into the car, "What do you mean?"
"These are good people, we need to look out for each other." Molly interjected,
"I'm sure that you want to believe that but you really don't. Some people can't be helped and I just don't want you to learn that the hard way." Jane paused then looked back down at Clem, "Take Kenny for example, how much help is he going to be in his current situation. He's more of a liability than anything. Rebecca's situation won't help anything and right now you're all following a one armed guy with a short fuse."
"Lee knows what he's doing." Molly said with an annoyed tone,
"Sure maybe he does, but he's leading the blind. No one else knows what they are doing. For what it's worth I do like most of them but shit happens people get killed. You need to pay attention to things that can easily get you. I mean look at yourself, look at your jacket." Jane said as she opened up the glove box of the car,
"My jacket?" Clementine asked confused as she looked down at it,
"Bet it's warm, comfortable...but one of those dead fucks get ahold of you. They'd bite right through that. Comfort isn't a factor anymore, you need to be practical. Leather, something tough. If I had a spare one i'd give you my jacket, hard for them to bite through these." She said giving her arm a little pat, "My sister used to wear one…" Jane said more to herself before quickly turning away from the car and heading back down the road,
Molly looked to Clem then back to Jane before quickly following, "Sister huh? Did she pass before or after?" Molly asked as she caught up to her,
"After." Molly said quickly and firmly,
"Mine too. Living or dead?" Molly asked as she slipped her hands into her jacket pockets,
"Dead." Jane said with a stone cold face,
"Sorry...living got mine." Molly said as she looked up at the sky,
"Sorry." Jane said with a little glance,
"How long?" Molly asked look over at her,
"Since?" Jane asked with a raised brow,
"Since you've been in a group. Awhile right?" Molly assumed,
"Yeah...a long time." Jane said with a short nod,
"Well makes sense." Molly said to herself and began to lag behind her,
"What do you mean-" Jane started to ask only for Clem to call out,
"Hey look!" Clem said pointing up at a large sign for a trailer park, "Maybe they are in there." She said with a hopeful tone,
"I don't know…" Jane said looking at the place quizzically,
"Can't hurt to check, we could even find some food." Molly said continuing to walk with Clem right next to her,
"Yeah...right." Jane said halfheartedly before finally following the pair towards the trailer park outskirts. As they approached the nearby fencing Jane let out a smile, "Jackpot." She said to herself and jogged over to two walker bodies, "Bet they got something good on them."
"Yeah, you're probably right." Molly said with a nod as she walked over as well.
As Jane took her ice pick and began to stab their heads confirming that they weren't coming back Clem looked at the pair confused, "Why would they have anything good on them? They're just walkers."
"But they weren't too long ago." Jane said with a little smirk,
"She's right, the old ones. They won't have anything, just wallets and cellphones but these ones were survivors. They could have something." Molly explained,
"Exactly." Jane said with a nod,
"Here Clem help me out." Molly said as she knelt down. Clem walked over and began to help Molly search through the walkers pockets. Clem found a few rounds in it's back pocket, "Nice, ammo's getting harder and harder to come by."
"Not gonna get any easier either." Jane added on. As they continued to search through the pockets Jane spoke up again, "Smart haircut."
Clem let out a little smile, "Thanks."
"So...you're crew always been this dysfunctional? I mean I know you fit in and all but you aren't exactly like them, neither of you." Jane said to them,
Molly slowly shook her head and stayed quiet, "Well I was with another group before, with Lee and Kenny. It was a better group, and they were different...better." Clem replied with a bit of a sullen tone,
Molly peered over and saw another walker body. She moved over to it and pulled out her knife stabbing it's skull, "Never be too careful." Jane said with a nod as she found a nail file from one of the walkers pockets, "These are great, sharpen a blade, light a fire. Jamie always had one in her purse." She said as she stared at it before slipping it into her pocket,
"Clem give me a hand, would ya?" Molly said with a grunt as she tried to turn the walker's corpse over,
Clem quickly moved over and helped roll the body over and her eyes quickly widened. She knelt down and picked up a cracked pair of glasses, "These are Sarahs." She said in shock along with a bit of fear,
"Looks like your friend didn't make it." Jane said matter of factly,
"You don't know that." Molly said quickly,
"Don't get your hopes up." Jane said shaking her head, "Look I know what you want me to say but-" Jane explained only to be cut off by Sarah shouting and Luke yelling back to her. The trio got up and quickly moved around trying to find a way into the trailer park. As they turned the corner they all stopped, both Clem and Molly looking grief stricken as they saw who was tangled up in a hold of the chainlink fence.
Matthew laid caught in the fence, bites along his arms and legs. He looked up at them with milky eyes and let out a gurgling groan. He reached his one free arm out at them and continually swiped at them while snapping his jaws hungrily, "Matt...fucking hell." Molly said with a tremble in her voice,
"He was your friend, you should do this." Jane said while looking down at the Clem,
Clem let out a small nod and looked down at Matthew for a moment, "I'm sorry, Matthew." She said softly as she pulled out her hatchet and pulled back ready to swing,
"Wait." Molly said quickly. She reached out and helped Clem angle the axe so it would be a clean, quick kill, "Swing straight." She said softly and move her hand away. Clem took a slow breath and slammed the hatchet down on Matthew's skull splitting the top into two halves. His body went limp and his head immediately dropped down. Clem pulled against the hatchet that was stuck firmly in his skull. She let out some grunts and finally along with a splash of blood the hatchet came free. "It's done. You did a good job." Molly said resting her hand on Clem's shoulder,
Jane moved over and untangled Matthew letting his body drop down, "You gotta be ready if it happens to anyone else. Luke, Sarah, Lee, anyone. No hesitation." Jane said firmly,
"I know." Clem said as she hung her head,
"You hatchet, it gets stuck easy." Jane said after a moment. She reached into her belt and took hold of an ice pick, "Here use this, won't get you killed." She said as she handed it to Clem, Clem let out a small nod and the three quickly moved through the fence.
As they moved deeper into the yard Jane looked over to Clem, "Look from what I've seen you're alright but you need to improve killing these things if you're going to make it. You gotta know their weak points." Jane looked around and saw a walker lumbering ahead of them, "Watch closely." She whispered before running forward. In a swift motion she jammed her foot into the walkers knee sending it to the ground and then quickly killing it.
Clem let out a surprised smile and nodded. Molly and Clem then both moved over and turned the corner, they could still hear Sarah and Luke and spotted a trailer that was being assaulted by the dead. "Well at least we don't have to go searching." Molly said with a little smirk,
"We have to distract them somehow." Jane said to them as Clem looked down and quickly stabbed a walker on the ground, that was not fully dead, "That's it, don't trust these shits."
"I got an idea." Molly said, "Let's lay the body in that truck, horn with bring them this way."
Jane let out a smirk, "Sounds good to me." She said as she moved forward and grabbed hold of the walker,
"Clem watch our backs." Molly said as she to took hold of the walker. The two women began to drag it towards a nearby truck and quickly put it into the cab and let it fall against the horn. The walkers assaulting the trailer quickly turned around and began lumbering towards them, if not for a makeshift fence separating the two they would have surrounded them.
"Let's move quick, watch yourselves there could be more inside." Jane said quickly as she kicked open a door to a trailer that could lead them to the other side of the fence,
"God dammit I miss Hilda." Molly said with a groan as she pulled out her knife,
"Who the fuck's Hilda?" Jane asked confused as they moved into the building,
"Her mountain climber." Clementine said with a little giggle,
"You named your weapon?" Jane asked with an amused grin,
"Oh fuck off the both of you." Molly said shaking her head as she looked back towards Clem. He smile faded quickly as she saw a female walker sneaking up on Clem as they moved through the building, "Clem!" Molly exclaimed as she stopped and made a quick and harsh roundhouse kick. Her foot went just over Clem's head and made contact with the walker sending it flying to the ground. Clem quickly looked over at it and stabbed it with the ice pick, "You okay?" Molly asked quickly,
"Yes." Clementine said nodding quickly as the fear of what could have happened set in, "Thank you."
"No problem kid." Molly said with a smile,
"Wouldn't hurt for you to teach the kid that move." Jane said with a surprised look, "Now let's get inside there and get your friends." She said as she swung open the back door, the three ran outside heading straight towards the trailer. "Oh fucking hell." Jane grumbled out as she saw the walker group distracted by the horn turn to them, "Get that fucking door open, Molly help me out here."
Molly moved over to Jane's side and the two stood in front of the stairs while Clem ran to the door and began to twist the handle, "It's locked!" Clementine shouted over to them,
"Then try something, get it open. We'll buy you time." Jane said as she quickly jammed her knife into a walkers skull. Clementine began to pound on the door, "Knockings not gonna help!" Jane shouted over to her,
"Luke! It's Clementine!" She shouted out, "Open the door!"
"He can't hear you with Sarah shouting! Try something else Clem!" Jane shouted back to her as she kicked a walker back causing a few others to tumble over,
"Oh for fucks sakes not everything has to be a lesson." Molly groaned out agitated as she hopped up the porch and quickly kicked the door open. The three moved inside and looked around for something to block a door. A large cabinet sat next to them which they quickly toppled over and blocked the door.
"Who's out there?" Luke asked as he opened the door, "Clem? Molly? Holy shit, it really is you." He said in shock,
"Luke! Are you okay?" Clementine quickly asked as she threw her arms around him,
He let out a sharp inhale and winced causing Clem to jump back, "It's nothing, i'm fine. Carver just worked me over."
"What are you doing here?" Molly asked confused,
"Sarah took off after Carlos, Me, Nick and Matt followed her. She found this place and dove inside. I've tried everything but I can't get her to leave." Luke looked back towards the room, "Nick got shot and lost a lot of blood, he ain't looking too good. We sent Matthew to go find you guys. Where is he?"
"He didn't make it." Jane said plainly,
"Shit." Luke said with a guilty look,
"No time to dwell on that, we need to get out of here, this place is getting surrounded." Jane said quickly, "Figure something out, i'll keep an eye on the door."
Luke nodded and turned around leading Molly and Clem towards the bedroom. As they entered Nick sat in one corner of the room with an almost dazed, tired look while holding his shoulder that had a large blood stain soaking into his shirt, "H-hey Clem." Nick said with a weak smile,
"Nick are you okay?" Clem asked with a worried tone,
"Never better." Nick said with a weak, short chuckle, "Don't know if i'm getting outta this one."
"Stop that. You're gonna be fine." Luke quickly said,
Clem looked to her left and saw Sarah sitting on the floor holding her legs, "Sarah." Clem said kneeling down, "Sarah are you alright, it's me, Clementine." She said as the girl stared out into nothing was shivering.
"I couldn't get through to her." Luke said shaking his head slowly,
"Sarah." Clementine said again causing her to blink a few times,
"C-Clementine?" She asked as if she was meeting her for the first time,
"Yeah, Sarah i'm so sorry." Clem replied while taking her hand, "But we have to go, it's not safe here." Sarah looked up at her then back to the floor, "I know what you're feeling right now, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. Ever since the walkers so many people I love have died." She started to say as Sarah began to whimper, "Sarah we can't be kids anymore, we don't get to be. If we do that we'll die." Clementine said trying to snap her out of it, this caused Sarah to look up at her a bit shocked and surprised yet she still didn't move.
Just then the window to the bedroom began to get hit on, Molly ran over to it and shut the curtains, "Fuck we're surrounded!"
"What was that?!' Jane shouted out from the front as she head the shelf against the door,
"They got us surrounded!" Molly shouted back,
"Shit!" Jane said hanging her head, "Look we can't stay here. I'm sorry but you can't save everyone Clem! You need to get yourself to safety, don't let her take you down with her!" Jane shouted causing Clem to hang her head,
"Look." Nick said slowly getting to his feet and pointing up, "We can get out the skylight."
"We need something to stand on." Molly said looking around,
"Like what?" Luke asked,
"That." Molly said looking at the shelf Jane was holding,
"Fuck it, let's go." Luke said heading towards the door with Molly. As the pair took the shelf and Jane held the walkers back Clementine knelt down in front of Sarah once again, "Sarah you are out of time! If you do not get up now, you will die! Do you understand!" Sarah began to cry and call out for her father. Jane and the others returned to the bedroom and slammed the door shut.
As the others began to pull themselves out of the room Clem continued to talk to Sarah, "Sarah you can't just give up! People care about you, you aren't alone!" She continued to cry and shake her head,
"Clem you can't save her." Jane said as she got onto the shelf and pulled herself out,
"Clementine let's go now!" Molly shouted down to her firmly,
Clementine pulled her hand back and gave Sarah a sharp slap across the face, "Get Up!" She shouted out causing Sarah to come out of her trance. She took hold of Clem's hand and got up. As the two girls were pulled out of the room, the walkers broke open the door and flooded the room. "Alright let's go, let's go." Jane said leading the others to the other side of the roof where they could hope onto the outside of the trailer park.
Alright everyone sorry about the long wait, I've had some bad writers block lately with most of my stories. Sometimes they feel stale and other time I can't think of the right thing to put down. But i'm back and hopefully you do like the chapter in the end, as I finally feel like I got what I wanted down on paper. Let me know what you thought about it in the form of a review and i'll see you all very soon.