Kenny leaned against the car door, staring blankly ahead of him. The trees whizzed past quickly, with the car going fairly quickly. To his right, Clementine slumbered peacefully. Ahead of him, in the passenger seat, Conrad's head lolled, as he too was asleep.
"How long do you think it'll be until we get there?" Kenny asked quietly. Ahead of him, Tripp shrugged, shaking his head.
"No tellin'." He replied. "Man, this is all fucked..."
Kenny glanced at the seat in front of him, and then looked back outside. "Yeah. Tell me about it." Kenny said. "Y'know, Clem and I, we..." Kenny trailed off, taking a deep breath. "We used to be part of the New Frontier. But we're not anymore," Kenny said, adding the last part quickly. Tripp looked up at Kenny through the rearview mirror, and eyebrow raised.
"I mean, shit. I can see why you're not a part of it anymore. They're some real fucked up people."
Kenny's fists clenched in anger. "Yeah... Tell me about it. They kicked me out and kept Clem hostage because 'she's just a kid.' and 'she won't last out there.'" Kenny said. He mimicked them poorly, making his voice high-pitched and whiny. Tripp scoffed at that.
"Some kid my ass. Didn't she point a gun at Javi's back?" Tripp asked.
"Yeah. She's lucky that Javi's a good man and isn't mad at her for that." Kenny grumbled. Beside him, Clementine stirred and lifted her head.
"Could you two keep it down?" She asked, a drowsy look on her face. Kenny's frustration melted away when he saw the look on her face, and he was once again reminded that she was, in fact, just a kid.
A kid who was constantly fighting a mental battle with herself.
"Alright, darlin'. I'm sorry." Kenny said, giving her a warm smile. Clementine rested her head again, her eyes closing. Despite this, Kenny had a feeling that she hadn't gone back to sleep just yet.
After driving for what had to be about an hour, the sun began to rise, casting a purple hue over the sky above. The purple melted into rosy pink, which, in turn, melted into a fiery orange.
Ahead, Kenny could see a red metal bridge, now rusty with age, with a small gas station to the right and a garage to the left. Underneath the bridge, a few abandoned cars lay, blocking the road. Kenny's heart sank when he saw that. As they approached, Tripp slowly eased off the gas, hoping to give the car behind him a chance to adjust. When they were nearly at a complete stop, Tripp pressed on the breaks slowly, stopping them completely.
Kenny looked over at Clementine, who was slowly sitting up and leaning forward, peering out through the windshield.
"Guess we gotta find a way around." Kenny said.
"Well, this makes it easier for Hannah to catch up to us." Clementine said. Kenny looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Clementine noticed and frowned, looking away.
"What? I'm worried she'll... Do something stupid."
"You mean you're worried she'll run down the road screamin' 'yee-haw' the entire time?" Kenny asked, a smirk on his face now. Clementine snickered at that.
"Based on what I know about her, yeah."
"Alright, everybody out," Tripp said, opening the car door and getting out. Conrad, who'd woken up when the car stopped, obeyed, getting out without a word. Kenny sighed and did so as well. In the car behind him, Eleanor rolled her window down while Javier, Gabriel and Mariana got out as well.
In front of the garage, two walkers stood, groaning, and slowly began to limp over to them. Javier reached behind his back, and then cursed.
"I got it," Kenny said. "Clem, give me your knife."
Clementine perked up, and then tossed a considerably large, sheathed knife over the car to Kenny. Kenny caught it and unsheathed it, advancing on the walkers. He pushed the first one down and firmly planting his foot on its chest. He waited for the other one to get closer before plunging the blade into the walker's head, pushing it down. He bent down and quickly killed the other walker, cleaned the knife, and resheathed it.
"Can I have that back?" Clementine asked.
"Don't you have another knife?"
"Yeah, but that one's bigger."
Kenny sighed, rolling his eyes and tossing the sheathed weapon back over to Clementine. "You ladies are all so picky."
Clementine rolled her eyes at that, smirking a bit.
"What's the issue?" Javier asked.
"There's cars clogging the overpass. Too many to drive through." Tripp said, peering at the cars.
"Hannah's horse is a Clydesdale, isn't he? Couldn't he just pull one of the cars away?" Javier asked.
"I suppose he could, but the thing about that is we don't know when Hannah will catch up to us." Tripp replied, his hands on his hips. "Time's of the essence. Spread out and search for a way to move these cars," Tripp ordered. Kenny hummed in response and turned, heading over to the gas station. There was grass growing in random patches on the ground, causing the concrete floor to have cracks. Gabriel and Mariana walked over to a red car near the gas station, searching it. Kenny walked up to the small convenience store. The doors and windows were covered in grime, making it impossible to see inside.
Kenny huffed and reached forward, opening a door and peaking inside. There were a few walkers inside, standing stock still with their backs to him.
Yep, that's creepy.
Kenny quietly closed the door and backed away, looking over at Gabriel and Mariana.
"Don't go in there without an adult, there's a few walkers in there."
"Okay," Mariana replied simply. Gabriel surfaced from the car, peering at some orange jumper cables.
"Those might come in handy." Kenny commented.
"What are they?" Mariana asked, raising a questioning eyebrow at them.
"Those are called 'jumper cables,' little lady. You attach em' to a workin' car battery and a dead car battery, and once you start the workin' car, it charges the dead battery." Kenny said with a bit of a smirk.
Mariana hummed and looked over at the two cars. "Alright," She said. "Come on, let's go give these to Javi." Mariana said, tugging on Gabriel's jacket. Gabriel smiled at his sister and nodded in agreement, allowing her to lead him over to their uncle. Kenny smiled at the two kids.
Just then, a familiar cry sounded in the distance. He looked up and saw a black horse with a smaller figure on its back race into the area. Kenny snorted. Of course it was Hannah.
Shade skidded to a stop, rearing up on his hind legs. Hannah's eyes went wide and panic crossed over her face.
"Wait Shade down-" She tried, but it was too late. She slipped off of Shade's back, landing flat on her butt. She had a dumbfounded look of betrayal on her face as Shade dropped down onto all fours and turned, sniffing her. Javier had broken into a fit of girly giggles while Clementine was running over, helping Hannah to her feet. Hannah's cheeks became a dark red as she dusted herself off, placing a hand on Shade's snout and giving him a stern look. Gabriel and Mariana had both burst into fits of laughter.
"Gee, love you too, Shade." Hannah muttered. Shade snorted and gently nudged her shoulder as if to say sorry. Clementine covered her mouth and giggled a bit, earning a smile from Hannah. She stood up straight, scanning the area. Kenny decided to go greet her.
"Good to see you catch up to us in one piece," Kenny said. "Question- can your horse pull a car?"
"Oh yeah, he's pulled things much heavier than a car before. Why?"
Kenny, Javier and Tripp exchanged glances at that. "We kinda need him to pull one of these cars out of the way." Tripp said, gesturing to the cars. Hannah peered over at the cars and frowned at that.
"But the noise-"
"Doesn't matter. We can haul ass out of here once the car's been moved." Kenny spoke up. Hannah rubbed her neck nervously, contemplating what to do for a moment. She sighed, caving in.
"Alright, but... We need something to tie him to the car. You guys look for something, alright? I'm gonna find a patch of grass for him to graze at, then i'll help you look." Hannah said, leading Shade over to a patch of grass. She patted her horse's head gently, her expression faltering for a moment. She closed her eyes, shaking her head and stood up straight, quickly putting on a relaxed look.
"Alright, where do we start?" Hannah asked.
"Well, we could either check the walker infested convenience store over there, or that mysterious garage over there." Kenny said.
"Uhh..."
"Here, how about this; Conrad and I will keep watch while Javi and his family check the garage and Kenny, Clem and Hannah check the gas station." Tripp said.
"Alright, I'm okay with that. Kids, stay behind me," Javier instructed, leading Gabriel and Mariana over to the garage. Tripp and Conrad both stood, side-by-side, looking down the road.
"What Javi said," Kenny said, looking at Clementine and Hannah sternly. Hannah reached over her back and pulled out the crowbar that Javier gave her. Clementine drew her large knife.
"Kenny, take the small knife," Clementine said, holding the smaller knife out to him. Kenny didn't hesitate in taking it, and then leading them to the grime covered doors.
Well... Here goes nothing.