Worker72-So with the idea of Pamela and her son getting involved in this story is going to be quite low, the idea is a good one, but I don't really want to cross too much into the comic series in this particular story and keep it mostly telltale oriented this time around. As for who is holding Vince up, read on and found out!
Thedarkpokemaster-Yeah, I wanted to slowly start to heal the fractured group of Howe's survivors and Lee's group so they could finally start acting more a team, focusing on the exterior threats rather than each other. The trust still fully isn't there but it's a start lol.
Strongchristiansilver-Hey, always great to hear someone enjoys my story, hope you like this chapter just as much!
Enjoy
Vince gently placed his binoculars down on the windowsill and slowly raised his hands, "Alright, you're in control, just take it easy, no one has to get hurt." He calmly said as he felt the person's hands reach over to quickly pat him down. "What do you need?"
"You to be quiet," The voice hissed back,
"Listen, I don't want any trouble, neither do my friends, we can just walk away from this," Vince replied,
"Bullshit, I know you people. I know what you're capable of," They spat back, "Now you're going to call your friends back over here and they are going to give me whatever weapons they are carrying along with whatever supplies. Then I'm getting out of here, you do that, you get to live,"
Vince let out a low exhale, "Well, that's a tough start to negotiation,"
Vince quickly felt an arm on his shoulder pull him around to face them. To his surprise, he saw a badly beaten woman, bruises on her face, a split lip, a blackened eye, and dried blood clinging to her skin. The brown jacket she wore was in tatters, and he could see a hastily wrapped up wound on her right calf. Vince couldn't imagine what hell she must have just dragged herself out. "No negotiations, I will kill you if you don't do what I say,"
"Easy, no one has to die today," Vince calmly replied, "I'll do what you want," The women stared Vince down for a long moment before quickly spinning him back around, placing a controlling hand on the side of his neck while keeping her pistol pressed to the back of his head.
Before Vince could call out, Shel called out to him, "Yes, Vince I found some!" She said in a quick cheer. The girl jogged out of the kitchen stuffing the single cans of formula into her pack, "It's not much but it's something, it'll give us a chance to-" Shel said only to freeze as she saw Vince,
"Shel, stay calm," Vince instantly said in a relaxed voice,
"Drop the bag," The woman quickly commanded,
"Do what she says Shel," Vince nodded,
Shel hesitated for a moment before letting her bag fall to the floor with a thud, "Your gun take it out and toss it over here. Now." The woman continued to order. Shel easily pulled her gun out and tossed it towards the pair. Vince felt her kneel down, quickly snatching Shel's gun, and tucking it into the back of her pants, "Alright, who else you have here?"
"No one, we're alone," Shel instantly replied,
"Don't lie to me, I know other people are in this building," The woman snapped back, "Get them out here or Vince gets one in the back of the head,"
"Easy easy, we'll cooperate," Vince swiftly interjected, "Jane, Russell, come out here...slowly," Shel lowered her head, pursing her lips as Jane and Russell came out of the nearby bathroom and bedroom respectively. Confusion was prominent on their faces only to quickly be replaced by shock then anger as they saw Vince being held hostage, "Guys, don't do anything rash,"
"What the fuck?" Russell growled out,
"That rifle. Put it over there," The woman ordered Russell, motioning to the half wall right next to the stairs,
"Hell. Fucking. No." Russell shot back,
"Russell…" Vince lowly begged,
"You're outnumbered and with my rifle, you're outgunned," Russell continued while slowly pulling his Ak off his shoulder and into his hands.
The woman jammed her pistol harder into Vince's neck and hunched down, using the man completely as a shield now, "You're right, but you start shooting, Vince is the first to die, that's a promise. Even if you could get a clean shot on me, you wouldn't be fast enough to stop me from pulling the trigger. Either way, your buddy's blood is on your hands,"
Russell ground his teeth and raised his gun, "You want to make that bet?"
"Try me," The woman replied,
"I'd rather no one tries anything, huh?" Vince almost exclaimed,
A silence hung in the air as the standoff continued for a minute only for Jane to interject, reaching out and pushing Russell's gun down, "He's right, we're not doing this, Russell do what she says," Jane nodded, smoothly grabbing her handgun and dropping it to the floor, "No one needs to die,"
Vince let out a sharp exhale as he watched Russell struggle for a moment before scoffing and walking over leaning his rifle against the stairs. "Good, now you two get over there with the girl, all of you back up against that dinner table." The woman commanded relaxing a bit. As soon as the trio was on the complete other side of the room she shuffled over and grabbed Russell's assault rifle. She tucked her pistol into the front of her pants and shoved Vince forward as she took a proper hold on the rifle, "Get over there," She ordered Vince, "Now whatever supplies you have, hand them over,"
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Russell growled out,
"Now," The woman snapped back,
"Just do it guys," Vince gruffly ordered while he moved to his pack and brought it over to the others. In just a few minutes Jane, Russell, and Vince had combined their packs of supplies into one.
"Alright put it in the center of the room then back off," The woman ordered which Vince quickly followed. As Vince got back in line the woman moved forward and snatched the bag, slinging it over her shoulder. The four began to relax, thinking that just maybe she'd leave them now but to their dismay, the woman only eyes Shel's bag still by her feet, "I said everything, your pack too,"
"What? No," Shel replied with a shake of her head,
"Shel, I know, but we don't have a choice," Vince softly said,
"No, we need this stuff, I won't let you take it," Shel shot out,
"You don't have a choice," The woman retorted,
Vince turned his head and let out a sigh as he knelt down and grabbed Shel's bag, "Vince no!" Shel yelled out,
"Shut up!" The woman shushed while looking out the window for a moment,
"Shel, we have to, we'll find more," Vince sternly replied before walking towards the woman and holding out the bag, "Here, that's all we got,"
The woman stared back at Vince and reached out grabbing the back and roughly pulling it out of his hand, "I'm sure your group has more than enough," She spat back,
"We don't!" Shel pleaded while taking a few steps forward, "It's not just food, formula is in there, we need that."
"Formula?" The woman asked back, her demeanor shifting to surprisingly more soft,
"We have a newborn in our camp, mother died, he'll die too without food. That's what we've been searching for all fucking day," Russell muttered back,
The woman looked to Vince for confirmation, "It's the truth, baby clothes, some toys, and a can of formula is in that pack along with a few things of food and medicine,"
The woman looked down at the pack then back up to the four of them, "What's his name?" She softly asked,
"Alvin Junior," Shel instantly replied,
The woman let out a pained sigh, "Damnit," She muttered under her breath before walking forward, "You're not with that group, they don't have kids." She stated while walking forward, "Take the bag, all of you wait ten minutes after I leave then get the hell back to whatever camp you're from, this place is bad and you don't want getting caught by those people out there,"
"Who are they?" Vince asked, "What did they do to you?"
The woman ignored the questions moved to Shel, handing her backpack back over to the girl before starting to back up, "Ten minutes, okay? If I see you following me, I shoot, got it?" She asked while looking between Vince and Shel.
Suddenly Jane spun around, grabbing hold of the back of one of the dining chairs and swinging right at the woman. The chair shattered over her body, sending the woman to the ground with a thud, completely knocked out. Russell wasted no time and charging forward, snatching his rifle back from the woman, aiming it down at her head, "Good move, Jane," He complimented, "Now let's kill her and get the fuck out of here before someone else comes,
"Whoa, what?" Vince jumped in, "No, we're not killing anyone,"
"Loose ends always come back to bite you in the ass," Jane coldly retorted while walking over and grabbing her pistol, as well as Shel's, tossing the latter's back to her,
"She didn't know who we were, clearly she thought we were part of this group in town," Vince argued, "She could have killed any one of us at any time and she didn't,"
"Because the noise would have brought down the rest of the group," Jane said while motioning her head towards the window,
"I don't know, I don't think she would've killed us unless we tried something…" Shel weakly argued with Vince,
"But she was about to steal all our shit and half our weapons, we could've died on the way home if she did that, she doesn't deserve our mercy," Russell barked out, "I don't know why we're even talking about this,"
"Jesus Russ, look at her, she must have been a fucking prisoner of this group and just got away. If you were held captive by some psycho's wouldn't you be thinking of just yourself?" Vince retorted as he knelt down checking the back of her head and breathing, "We gotta take her with us,"
"Oh no, no, no, no," Jane instantly jumped in, "You want to argue on not killing her, fine, but we are not dragging her all the way back to camp,"
"How the hell did we go from killing her to taking her home in three minutes?" Russell asked baffled by the thought,
"Think about it, she knows about this dangerous group, she can tell us about them, explain how worried we should be so we can take steps to protect our camp and...and we can't just leave her. We all know how dangerous it is out there," Vince explained himself,
"And you want to take that danger back to camp? If she escaped then they are going to look for her and if she's with us, then we're part of the target. I know it's harsh but it's not our problem to keep her safe, we need to look out for ourselves," Jane argued back,
Vince's jaw locked and he shook his head in agitation, "You know what I don't care what you guys say, I'm bringing her back, it'll be Lee's call with what we do with her," He said while reaching down and picking the woman up, hoisting her up over his shoulder,
"Jesus Vince," Russell muttered as the Asian man headed down the stairs,
"We have to get going," Shel softly said while walking over, grabbing Vince's crossbow and following him downstairs. Russell and Jane shared a look of disappointment before lamenting and following the others down the stairs and out of town, now being sure to watch their back, not knowing who could be following or watching them.
Hours later, back at Howe's, the rest of the group, minus Bonnie who stayed on watch, were inside the pen. Nick, Kenny, and Luck had prepared the deer as well as the fire pit. The skinned carcass was skewered on a long metal pipe and was sitting over the fire, slow cooking. The three men smiled as they watched the animal cook, savoring the smell of cooking venison, "God damn Nick, a hell of a hunt," Luke grinned,
"Never would have found the bastard if it wasn't for the old man, I can't track worth shit," The young adult admitted,
"Easy boy, I ain't that old," Kenny muttered back causing Luke and Nick to both let out a low chuckle.
"Hey guys, come on, help us set up the table, it won't be long before we can carve off a slice," Wyatt called out to the trio, who headed over to assist him, Sarah, and Becca with dinner preparations.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the pen, Molly was teaching Clem a few tips on saving fresh meat. The woman had enlisted the girl to held her go outside Howe's to scoop up a few buckets worth of snow and now was burying the squirrels and rabbits. "It's probably the only bonus of hunting in winter, if we got all this in spring, we'd never be able to eat it all before some of it spoiled."
"Yeah, but it's a smart idea to use the snow like this, it's like a freezer," Clementine smiled back, "And you got all of these by yourself?"
"You think those two were any help to me?" Molly sarcastically asked while thumbing over to Nick and Kenny making Clementine giggle,
"Maybe I can go out with you next time, learn how to hunt like you do," Clementine said with a hopeful tone,
"Wouldn't be a bad idea," Lee said as he approached the pair causing them to look over, "Being able to hunt is going to be important until we really get a garden going,"
"Seriously? You wouldn't mind me taking her out with me?" Molly asked with a raised brow, not fully believing the man,
"I'm not excited about it if that's what you're asking but I can't argue with your results, getting this much was worth the risk," Lee admitted, "It's been too long since we had venison,"
"Venison," Clementine repeated before looking down at the squirrels, "Wait, what's that again?"
"The meat of the deer, Clem," Lee explained with a short chuckle,
"Why don't they just call it deer?" Clementine asked back,
"Because everyone likes to make things sound fancier than they really are," Molly retorted making Lee let out a short laugh,
"I don't really care what you call it, as long as I can get a good slice," Lee lightly joked,
Clementine looked over to the deer and couldn't help but lick her lips, "You think it's ready yet?"
"Let's go check it out," Lee asked on with a quick motion of his head, urging the girl to follow him.
Clementine got up and followed Lee with a smile, as the duo walked she took note of Lee reaching down and messing with the walkie talkie on his belt, "Nothing from Vince yet?" She asked,
"No...not yet, but Vince is smart, I'm sure they just hit a minor snag and will be here any minute," Lee replied,
"Yeah, you're probably right," Clementine agreed sharing his optimism.
"Hey but enough of that," Lee said as the pair reached the fire pit, "I think it's about time I check in with my number two,"
"Huh?" Clementine hummed in response,
"Hey, I told you, I wasn't running this thing by myself, you're helping me." Lee warmly answered while looking down at the girl, "So, what do you think? How are we doing here?"
"Way better then we were before," Clementine instantly replied, "You're keeping us safe, and you helped get us fed,"
"Well, of course, that's basic stuff. But what about the other things? You think I'm focusing on the right stuff here?" Lee asked,
"I think...Luke's idea for a bunkhouse is a smart idea," Clementine noted, "And it was smart to send Vince out for supplies to make our walls stronger. But most of all, I think making Sarah prepared was the best decision so far,"
"Yeah, I was thinking that too," Lee softly agreed, "The girl has been through hell, but the only way she's going to make it, is to face the world than learn how to survive it,"
"Jane keeps saying it's too late for her, but you don't see it that way," Clementine added on, "And neither do I,"
Just then Lee's walkie went off, "Hey Lee, I think they're back, but I think one of them's hurt! We gotta get the loading dock open for 'em!" Bonnie's voice crackled out,
"Copy that," Lee quickly replied, he then looked over and called out to Kenny, "Ken, help me with the doors!"
"You got it," The redneck called back before jogging over following both Lee and Clementine to the loading dock doors.
As Lee and Kenny began to yank on the chains pulling the large rolling doors up, Clementine knelt down and looked out at parking lot, "Hey, I think they're carrying someone,"
"Oh hell," Kenny grumbled out,
"Can you make out who it is?" Lee grunted back,
"It's someone else?
"What's going on?" Luke asked as he exited the pen and headed over as well,
"Wait, what'd you say Clem?" Lee asked in confusion just as he and Kenny finished lifting the doors.
The four survivors looked out to Vince's group watching as the group quickly approached them, becoming illuminated from the spotlights inside Howe's. "Lee, Luke, give me a hand!" Vince called out to the duo,
"What in the hell?" Kenny exclaimed as he watched Luke and Lee help Vince pull the woman into Howe's, "Who the fuck is this?!"
"Someone who held us up, it was Vince's dumb idea to bring her back!" Russell yelled back,
"Oh shut up man!" Vince snapped back, "This is a person, a living breathing, person!"
"Wait what did y'all say, who is this person?" Luke asked with a set of wide eyes,
"Yeah repeat that?" Lee nodded in agreement keeping his attention on the group in front of him
Meanwhile, Clementine knelt down, slowly the woman onto her back, her eyes went wide and she let out a soft gasp, "It's...it's Christa,"
Alright, everyone, I am back, sorry for a long break on this one but I was playing around with a lot of ideas on who I really wanted to be the one who held up Vince's group. At first, I was thinking it could have been someone from Wellington or an actual Bandit from this new town. I had planned on putting Christa into the story a little later on but this placement seemed too good to just waste for her return to the group. So let me know what you thought, sorry it wasn't a super long chapter but I felt it was best to keep it short and centered on her return!