"Stupid damn walkers" Jake muttered, pulling the hammer out of the undead monsters skull. Over the last few weeks, walkers breaching the walls became more and more common.
"I'm guessin' another one got in?" Kenny chuckled, opening the door. Jake glared at the Floridian, before chuckling and throwing the bloodied hammer to the man.
"Yeah. I don't see how the stupid things keep getting in, we're constantly repairing the walls" Jake explained, wiping blood off his face. Kenny looked at the thick wooden walls, and noticed the amount of rot and mould evident on the wood.
"I'm starting to think its time to think about moving on from Howe's…" Kenny said disheartened. Jake looked at the man with a look of annoyance as Kenny continued. "Look, I know this ain't what you wanna hear, but c'mon man, this place eventually WILL fall, and I don't wanna see you, Kris or Clem get hurt."
"Kenny, I know what you mean, but we can't just up and leave when the going gets rough!" Jake pointed out, moving a spare board over the walker's new entrance.
"I know that, and I ain't sayin' we leave right now. But we need to start making plans should this place not work" Kenny sighed, watching as Jake picked up a spare hammer and started hammering the board into place.
"Look, listen to me or don't. I'm just saying, we need to plan for the inevitable" Kenny mused, walking back into the store. Jake stopped in the doorway and stood there, staring out at the few walkers that occasionally stumbled from the dense forestry surrounding the store.
"I know the time will come, but why not enjoy this while we can?" Jake thought to himself as he closed the door and headed to his friend.
"Are you fucking kidding me? Another one got in?!" Kris seethed, kicking the wall in anger.
"The walls rotten, its to be expected man. Almost all the spare wood we have is rotten…" Jake explained sadly, seeing his friends anger. Kris has anger issues as a kid, yet it seems the apocalypse stopped him from caring about how it affected himself or anyone anymore.
"Well, what can we do? Wood doesn't exactly just appear out of nowhere…" Kris sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Well, we have plenty of axes in the store. I'll take Kenny with me on a supply run, look for some gas and meds, and chop some wood and throw it on the truck while we go" Jake offered. Seeing his friend so stressed about this upset Jake, and he was determined to do what he could.
"Thanks, I'll get to work on the greenhouses with Clementine" Kris smiled, his mood improving rapidly.
"Alright, well I'm gonna go load up the truck. We'll be back in a few days" Jake waved as he left Kris in the upstairs office alone.
Kris sat in the large chair, looking over the numbers he had taken a few days ago. By his math, accounting for 4 people and an infant, they had maybe, 18 months' worth of food and water. Meds were running low, and they had little to no gas left. Looking over the same notes for hours on end, making sure everything was alright, Kris was startled when a knock came at the door.
"You already know its unlocked" Kris chuckled, stacking the papers up and setting them aside. He watched as Clementine entered the room with a basket in her arms.
"I thought you were coming up to work on the greenhouses?" Clementine asked, as she took something out of the basket.
"Yeah, Jake was just here. I told him I'd be there in a sec." Kris explained, moving another sheet to the side.
"Jake left 3 and a half hours ago, I've been working on my own" Clementine said, looking confused at the man.
"3 and a half hours?! Shit, sorry Clem I didn't realise. Here, let me come help you" Kris tried to apologize, but Clem simply waved him off.
"Don't worry, most of them are done already, I just have the one near the loading bay left" Clementine explained as she handed an apple to Kris.
"Woah, where did these come from?" Kris eyes widened as he inspected the red fruit.
"I had enough soil and spare wood on the roof, so I started growing an apple tree. It's been up there for a few moths now" Clem explained confused. "How did you not notice it up there?"
"I guess I've just been cooped up in this little office" Kris laughed, biting into the apple he was still holding.
"That is true, I guess" Clementine accepted as she turned to leave.
"Hey Clem, hold up a sec" Kris stood up as he walked over to the young girl. She turned to him, before asking: "What's up?"
"I, uh, wanted to talk to you" Kris explained nervously, sitting down and motioning to the other chair.
"OK?" Clem asked as she sat the basket on the ground and sat in front of Kris.
"I just wanted to ask if everything's alright. When you and Kenny first got here, when it was just you and I, you sort of… broke down" Kris reminded her, as she looked down towards the ground.
"I guess the reality of, everything, hit me. I guess I felt comfortable opening up like that, cause you sort of remind me of Lee" Clementine explained sadly, her voice dropping towards the end.
"Who's Lee?" Kris asked puzzled. Clementine sighed, before standing up.
"M-maybe another time" Clem said quickly, grabbing the basket and rushing out of the room, leaving a still confused Kris in her wake.
"Huh, wonder what that was all about?" Kris wondered as he moved back around and sat down to look over the count once again.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Jake asked as he watched Kenny work underneath the truck.
"For the eighth time, YES. I do know what I'm doing" Kenny snapped, annoyed with Jake's constant prying.
"Alright, alright. Might as well go get some wood while I wait" Jake sighed, grabbing one of the axes off the back seat and walking towards a fairly thick tree.
"Don't stock up too much more. We're nearly full as it is" Kenny called out, climbing out from under the truck.
"Yeah Yeah, I know. Last one, I promise" Jake called back, as he swung the axe into the tree. Kenny chuckled as he started the truck, only to hear it splutter and struggle.
"C'mon, you stupid thing. At least get us home…" Kenny mumbled, kicking the wheel.
"TIMBER!" Jake called out as the tree fell, narrowly missing the front of the truck.
"JESUS CHRIST JAKE, YOU ALMOST TOTALLED THE TRUCK" Kenny shouted.
"Yeah, well, I didn't, did I?" Jake answered, laughing at Kenny's fuming face.
"You are so lucky I don't smack you upside the head right now" Kenny mumbled angrily, as he grabbed the spare saw from the truck and began cutting up the wood.
"Eh, well, sorry I guess" Jake apologized, throwing his axe in the truck.
"Yeah, ok. Just go open the back of the truck and start loading this in" Kenny asked, throwing more of the cut wood to the side.
"Hold that thought for a second, gotta go take a piss. Be back in a sec" Jake wandered off into the forest, leaving Kenny behind to finish the wood.
He wandered for a few minutes, simply admiring the scenery, before he remembered why he was here.
"Good as place as ever to go, I guess" Jake thought as he relieved himself. After finishing, he zipped his fly up and turned to walk back to the truck, only to trip over a stump.
"Ah, stupid fucking stu-" Jake looked back to the stump, only to see it was kicked aside, and a small hatch embedded in the ground.
"The fuck?" Jake wondered as he inspected the mysterious hatch. It was a circular opening, with a rusty door decorated with a single handle. The cover was firmly affixed into the ground, and didn't seem as though it would budge, despite Jake's hard pulls against the handle.
"JAKE, YOU OUT HERE? C'MON MAN KRIS'LL KICK MY ASS IF YOU'RE DEAD" Kenny hollered, startling Jake. He turned quickly and flagged the beared man down, motioning to crouch down.
"Kenny, take a look at this" Jake whispered, as Kenny crouched beside him.
"The fuck? Why's there a hatch just in the middle of the forest?" Kenny asked puzzled, as he tried to pull on the handle.
"Wont budge. I already tried" Jake pointed out, looking at the hatch, trying to figure out a way to pry it open.
"I'll go grab an axe, see if we can't pry this open" Kenny ran off towards the truck, as Jake continued trying to tug on the handle, only for it to snap off in his hands.
"Catch!" Kenny shouted, throwing something to Jake. He caught it and instantly saw it was a crowbar.
"We had a crowbar?" Jake asked puzzled. He hadn't noticed a crowbar with the rest of his tools, and he had packed the damn truck.
"Yeah, it was in the bag in one of the side pouches. There were 2 in there, plus a flare. Instead of dulling the axes we can just open it with these" Kenny explained, jamming his crowbar under the hatch and attempting to pry it open.
"Yeah well, try not to throw your back out opening this" Jake joked, earning a glare from Kenny.
"Cmon, I'm not THAT old" Kenny grunted.
"Sure…" Jake chuckled, as he jammed his crowbar under and began trying to pry the hatch open. Both men struggled for a few minutes, before a snap was heard and the hatch flipped open.
"Gotcha, you son of a bitch!" Kenny laughed triumphantly, kicking the hatch. Jake doubled over, relieved they finally managed to pry the damn thing open.
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's check this thing out" Jake asked seriously, grabbing his gun and a flashlight and climbing down the ladder in the ground. Kenny followed soon after, and the two descended quite quickly down the ladder. They climbed for a good 5 minutes before finally reaching the bottom.
"Jesus Christ that's a massive fucking ladder" Kenny inhaled, catching his breath. Jake looked at him wordlessly, trying desperately to catch his own breath so far underground.
"Ok, mister underground dungeon. What loot do you have for me?" Jake smirked as he flicked his flashlight on and snuck down the tunnel. Aside from the torches, the tunnel was pitch black, adding to how creepy a random tunnel in the forest was.
"Damn, this place is giving me the creeps" Kenny shuddered, as the duo continued on.
"Look up ahead. Looks like a door of some sort" Jake pointed out as they approached a very futuristic looking door. Sitting beside it was a dead walker, with a scalpel of sorts sticking out of his forehead.
"Damn, he got fucked up" Jake gawked, before noticing a key-card pinned to his chest.
"Grab his card. Might come in handy" Kenny pointed out, approaching the bleached white door.
"Odd looking card" Jake muttered as he grabbed the card and inspected it.
"Hey, this guy was CDC. Maybe this is a government lab?" Jake asked to no-one in particular.
"Maybe…" Kenny banged on the door, with no effect. He banged again, with the second time knocking a panel next to the door out of place, revealing a pad of sorts.
"Hey, take a look at this" Kenny motioned for Jake, as the younger man walked over and inspected the panel.
"Hey, try the key-card. Maybe it'll open the door?" Jake looked over at Kenny, who simply shrugged. Seeing nothing could go wrong, Jake pressed the white card against the scanner, which hummed, before the door clicked and began sliding open.
"Shit, it worked!" Kenny hollered, as he pushed the large door open.
"Treasure time!" Jake joked as he followed Kenny into the room, only to be met with the barrel of a gun. Both men stared at the figure in front of them. Both men didn't dare move, risking their lives.
"Just who the fuck are you?" The figure asked in a feminine voice. Both men looked at each other, worry etched on their face. The air seemed to stiffen, tension riding through the air. Jake stepped forward to explain, before he felt himself get struck in the temple with the butt of a rifle. Kenny watched as his companion hit the ground with a bleeding forehead.
"HEY! WHAT THE FUCK?!" Kenny screamed before he felt the "loving" embrace of the rifle's butt hit him and knock him out cold.
"Jesus Christ, we can't just knock people out like this, at least let them explain first!" The first figure spat, as she watched a second figure appear behind her.
"Fuck them. Especially El' Beardo" the second woman spat back, kicking Kenny in the head.
"What's your problem with him Lilly?!" the woman shouted, moving to pull the now unconscious men out of the doorway.
"Well, it's a bit of a long story…" Lilly sighed as she moved to help clear the doorway.
*A.N. Holy fuck this took forever for me to write. This chapter took way too long to write, for 3 reasons.
1. I was stuck for how to write this
2. School.
3. I've been playing Payday 2 a lot lately, and I've been forgetting to write it.
Yes, these are excuses. No, not all of them are valid. The first two are, the last one is just me being lazy =/
If something is wrong for this chapter, my writing style is bad or its too rushed, please do tell me. I'm trying my hardest to write better, but I cant really if I don't know if I'm doing something right or wrong.
Anywho, enough ranting. Chapter 5 is in the works right now, and we have 2 new characters, one we thought we lost in Season 1, and another OC.
Ciao,
Exfinity