(Violet's Pov)
-Two Months Later-
It's been two months since I have seen my family, I would work as best as I could in this new community, gain any information I can, and get any information on the whereabouts of my family. They were no longer at the school which I was fine with, it's better than staying there with the possibilities of getting taken again, though Joan took it as a way of them hiding from her.
"So you feeling ok?" I heard and looked up to see the man who once laughed at me when I went down the well and almost died.
"Hm… sure, you?" I asked as I looked at the fence and the wires. I think one of them was cut to stop the electricity.
"Heard a bunch of people planning on leaving this place." He says and I looked up to him.
"If that is what they want to do then it's fine by me, though it's Joan they will have to worry on if she finds out, best chance of leaving is by going down the west gate." I tell him and get back to work.
"You just told them where they can escape too… why?" He asked and I got up and looked to him as I put my hands in my pockets due to the snow.
"I don't like it here, Joan knows that already and has always known that, I never tell people they have to stay I give them free will, so unless you plan on snitching you might want to keep it to yourself cause Joan will think you're the one planning on leaving." I say to him and I watch his body language a bit.
"I know you want to leave but if you do be careful." I tell him and walk away as I make a mental note to find more wires for the fence. It wasn't long till I was back in my home drawing up plans to make the place a little better, I had no choice really at this point.
"Hello my flower." I heard and shivered at the name.
"I am not your flower now stop calling me that." I say as I gripped my pen and glared at Joan as she looked to me.
"Oh, but you are, and you know it." She says and I glared at her then got back to work.
"Come on take a break." She says and I shake my head.
"You want this community to be better than I need to fucking work now leave me the hell alone." I tell her and she glared at me and I looked back to my plans and take a drink of the coffee I had found when on a run. Lucky me, right?
"You work so hard though Flower." She says and I slam my hands on the table and she looked to me.
"Yea, because I have to in order to keep people happy, so stop it and let me get this fucking work done." I tell her and she glared at me and then pours the hot coffee on my hand and I pull it back and hiss a bit in pain as I looked to her.
"I told you to take a break, the only person you need to make happy is me, so go in the living room, pick a movie and I'll make you some more coffee." She says and I looked to her and I looked to my new plans that were now destroyed and I glared at her as I grabbed the paper and I threw it away and grabbed new paper and I worked again on the plans.
"I said to go-."
"NO! SHUT YOUR GOD DAMN MOUTH I AM TRYING TO KEEP THIS PLACE SAFE AND YOU'RE ACTING LIKE A FUCKING CHILD!" I yelled at her and she looked to me a bit shocked and I just glare at her as I seethed a bit and shake my head.
"You-."
"SHUT UP!" I yelled to her again and she looked to me.
"You do this to Clem?" she asked and I gripped my head a bit.
"Shut your fucking mouth and go do whatever old fucking ladies do." I tell her as I work more.
"You need to respect-."
"Joan, I swear to fucking god I will slap you across the fucking face just stop it." I tell her as I work more and more. She left the house and I groaned a bit and looked to the shift chart and I have to head into the town to scavenge for any parts. I shake my head as I go and grabbed my backpack and headed out to the group of people I was supposed to go with, being Kelly, Delta, Juliet, and Diana.
"You ready?" Delta asked and I just put my things in the truck and I get in the driver side and waited for them. They finally get in and I start the truck up and drive to the destination.
"You ok? I heard you yelling." Delta said.
"I don't want to hear it, apparently I'm a fucking traitor." I grumbled as I looked around a bit to make sure I'm careful with the truck.
"That wasn't-."
"Shut up I don't want to fucking hear it, I'm tired of fucking hearing it, just shut the fuck up." I say as I gripped the wheel.
"Hey I was-."
"You aren't doing anything to make me feel fucking better so shut the fuck up." I say and keep driving in silence as I sigh a bit and try to relax as best as I could. Once we got to a good spot I parked the truck and I grabbed my bag as I headed out the door followed by the others, I just walked into the town not caring to look for Walkers of any kind, I just wanted to get some things and go back home, lock the doors and then probably sleep, I'm so god damn tired.
"Heard you tell Kyle that he could leave the community." Delta says and I stop and glare at him.
"And are you going to tell Joan?" I asked and he looked to me.
"No, I mean…. I didn't think you'd say that to him after well…. He laughed at you for almost dying." He says and I looked to him then back to the task at hand.
"I'm doing the same thing I've been doing before, I allow people to leave and come as they please, and I make the people happy, so don't question it just go with it, you want to stay fine, if they don't then leave them alone." I tell him and I get back to work on looking for anything we could use. I go into an old Mall and I take a look around it a bit.
"You think anyone is in here?" Juliet asked and I shrugged.
"Don't know, probably I wouldn't put it past someone to still be here, was probably a gold mine." Delta says and I nod as I go look into one store and I see some old comic books and I take a look in the back office to find nothing, looks like no one has been here since the Dead started walking again.
"I don't think anyone has been here." Delta says and I shake my head as I get back to work and just look around a bit more to find a gun store that was still locked up. I looked at the gat and looked inside to see there was still guns inside, along with bows and arrows. I pulled on the gate a bit to see if it was locked or opened and just our luck it was locked.
"No point, someone might be in there." Delta says and I groaned.
"Stop talking god damn it." I say.
"The hell I'm just saying."
"You don't know if people are here or not unless you've been here before." I say and he glared at me.
"What if there is a walker in there."
"You thought I was just going to fucking barge in there?" I asked pissed and he looked to me.
"I mean."
"You fucking idiot, I'm not a god damn moron." I say as I shove him to the side and I take a look around to find any entrance to the store, I needed to get those weapons.
"Look there might be a Walker in there waiting to chomp on us." He says.
"Then fucking go, I ain't scared besides we see walkers on the road and you never acted like this, so unless theres actual people in there that are living then tell me now." I tell him.
"I don't know I just don't feel right about this." He says and I shake my head as I get back to work. I was crouched down in front of the lock to see if there was any way to break it but I wasn't sure at this point.
"Hey guys we found some rice and stuff." I heard and then looked up from my spot on the ground and I looked up to see the others as they show us some of the good foods and I nod.
"This is good, maybe there's more." I thought a bit as I looked around.
"What are you trying to do?" Kelly asked.
"Weapons in there I'm trying to get into, could use some extra ones." I say as I looked back into the store.
"Hmm I'd say we leave them." Kelly says and I look at her.
"You too?" I asked.
"What?"
"First Delta and now you…. What do you guys plan on leaving?" I asked and they all looked to me.
"You are hu?" I asked.
"You said you'd let people leave if they wanted to, so what's wrong with us wanting to?" Delta asked pissed.
"You know you could have just said something along the lines of 'Hey uh actually the others and I, we plan on leaving soon.' I would leave some weapons here for you guys." I say to them.
"You are being serous?" Juliet asked.
"Yes god damn it, did I ever stop anyone from leaving?" I asked and they looked to me.
"Shit if you guys want to go now you can, I can say a horde passed through and we got separated." I tell them and they all look to me a bit and shook their heads no.
"Not yet, we have a few more people we want to bring." Diana says and I nod and looked back to the store.
"It's best if we get this lock open anyway." I say as I looked at it again and after an hour or so of working on it we finally got it opened and I go under and look around the shop a bit with the others.
"We can bring the handguns back so if we run into trouble when we leave." Juliet says and I nod to her as the others go ang grab two handguns each and I go for the bow and arrow.
"You know how to shoot with that." Delta asked and I notched the arrow into the bow and let it go into the mannequin's head that was on the other end of the store.
"Still got it." I say as I looked to the mannequin a bit and then go and I retrieve the arrow. I looked at the bow and sighed a bit as it looked like Marlon's old bow and I shake my head as I go to the front of the store and wait for the others. We looked around the mall more and I sighed as I see some old Disco Broccoli stuff and it reminded me of AJ when he was younger. I shake my head a bit as I go out the store and I looked around the town a bit more, hours would pass us by and I started to take the others to the truck and I got in the driver's side and waited for the others to set up. Once everyone was in the truck I begin to drive and look for anything else we could stop to grab but nothing came to mind. I was able get back to the farm and I parked the truck up at my house since I am going to have to need it later on tonight. The others left the truck and went to do their other jobs and I went inside and I set the bow and arrows down on my table and I looked at it as I grabbed a rag and wiped it off a bit.
"So how was the trip?" I heard and looked to Joan and I shook my head.
"Nothing good." I said.
"The bow looks nice." She says and I nod as I work on cleaning it and looked at the arrows a bit.
"Yea…. Nothing new." I say to her and I set it back on the table and look at her.
"You know how to use it?"
"Yea I do, I'm not stupid." I say and I go look at the maps I had spread out on the table and marked off the mall as empty area with Walkers locked inside.
"Lot of walkers hu?" She asked and I nod a bit.
"Just Walkers, don't know how many more." I say and she nods and I get back to work.
"You going to take a break?" She asked and I grabbed the bow and arrows and headed out to my truck.
"There is no reason to take a break." I say and load up the truck a bit.
"You have been busy for a while." She says.
"If I don't work, I look weak now leave me the fuck alone." I tell her and she grabbed my arm and pinned me to the truck. I just glared at her and she moved away from me as I take my hand back.
"Is it because of that girl." She states more than asked.
"You mean Clementine?" I asked and she just looked at me and I shook my head as I got in the truck and went to the edge of the west sided fence and kept watch in that area. I saw a few people coming over to my side of the wall and I hold my rifle as I watched them.
"New Life." They say and I nod as I let them pass by me and I keep watch as I keep them from view as they go past the gate. Once they are I get down and I pretend to work on this side of the fence as I see Joan's truck pass by and I grabbed some zip ties as I work on it.
"Fence broken?" She asked.
"For now, I'll have to find more wires later, best to keep watch for walkers on this side." I say as I looked to the hillside and I finish the fence up and keep on watch. Joan had decided to stay which messed up one last groups plan of leaving but I can figure something out later for them, I watched as the sun was coming up and I shake my head a bit and I looked around more.
"You ever going to sleep?" I heard and turned to see Tenn. and I jumped a bit but didn't say anything as I shook my head no.
"You should sleep." I heard and looked to Mary and I nod a bit but kept watch more.
"When you get home will you sleep?" I heard again from one of the two and I shrugged a bit at this and just looked at the hillside and I held my rifle tightly in my hands, finger on the trigger as I looked at Joan some more. I could shoot her, I could just shoot her and get it over with, all it takes is one bullet to the head.
"Your lookout time is almost up." Joan says and I look around a bit more. I don't need to answer her, I never have to answer her.
"Did you hear me?" She asked and I looked to the field more and just kept watch for anything.
"How'd the fence break?" Joan asked.
"bandits." I say and looked around some more before my shift was off and I get up and looked to her.
"Have to go back home make some plans." I tell her and then she nods as I get in the truck and I drive off back to my home. It was a while before the other family came to my house and I looked to them.
"She knew." The father John says and I nod.
"Yea, just have to plan another way out, I take the east side tomorrow night but that would be a bit early." I say to them and I looked to the kids and I sigh as I think.
"What side do you take in two weeks?" The mom asked I think her name was Kim.
"I take the North side and Joan will be watching me from her house so that would be a no go for us." I tell her and I lean back and think then looked to the map.
"John goes hunting with me next week… we can say we want to teach the kids and fake a walker attack." I plan out.
"What about Kim?" John asked and I looked to her.
"Think you can try and come with us?" I asked and she nods a bit and I do this too as I write down something and I get up.
"Alright I'll go put it in that your kids wanted to try hunting today this afternoon, but you were being protective parents and wanted to come with, Walkers attack and I come back with some bloody clothes." I tell them and they all nod as I go and grab my bag and head to Joan's as they head back to work. I go up the porch and I knock on the door. She opened the door and I look to her.
"So, you going to finally talk to me?" She asked.
"Need to get permission for kids to go hunting with me today but the parents want to come because they still have concerns about me." I tell her and she looked to me then to the paper with the family's name on it and the kids.
"Hm, well they are becoming teenagers so they do need to learn… alright I'll grant a one-day pass, or do you need more time?" She asked and I looked to her.
"Three days would be fine since we have to feed more people." I say and she nods and gets me a three days pass and I grabbed it then to the house as I get to the family to tell them to get ready.
"You were bale to get her to do that?" John asked and I nodded as I looked to them then the kids.
"Grab what you can for a three-day trip we can take my truck." I say and they nod as they get things packed and I go back to my house and grab some more supplies and I think for a bit as I grabbed some more supplies and set them in my truck. I then went back inside and grabbed anything personal and I shake my head as I think more.
"Fucking hell this is stupid." I say as I put them in a bag and I then grabbed more stuff and placed all the maps I had in the bag too so they couldn't use these plans I had, this was the last family that wanted to leave so why don't I leave too.
"Fuck this is stupid Violet what if she comes after you." I mumbled and then thought a bit more and I think a bit as I looked to the side and then went to my truck and headed back to the family and got them ready as they got into my truck.
"Change in plans." I say as we head to the gate and I wave to the others as we drive into the woods.
"What changes?" John asked and I drove more.
"I'm going to blow up the truck but we have to get some walkers in the car, same height and stuff…. We grab our stuff and just go our separate ways." I tell them as I drive more and get to a restricted area and I think a bit as I stopped the truck and I rubbed my neck a bit.
"You're leaving too?" Kim asked and I nodded.
"I don't need to stay there anymore I just need to leave and this is the only chance I have." I tell them and I rubbed my face as I think about Kelly and the others and what I'm about to do as I helped them grab their bags and we placed them to the side in the trees and we grabbed our guns and I think.
"We stab the walkers in the back of the neck we can't shoot them or stab them in the head unless they have a lot of hair whatever just need to get this done and over with." I say and they nod as we go look for some walkers. We killed five of them and then set them in the truck and I looked to the teens as I set the other walker in the back seat and I go under the truck and cut a break line and I get up from under the truck and I grabbed some of the gas and poured it on the walkers inside and I set the rest in the back of the truck and they walk in one direction and I walk back a bit and I aim my rifle to the canaster as I take the shot blowing the canaster which ignited the flames and then engulfed the truck, thus making a huge explosion. I took a look around quickly as I grabbed my bag from the ground and I run south. I look at the map and think a bit as I try to remember where to go.
"Great so Virginia to Georgia would be a six-day walk, and then some so maybe ten-day walk, then to Georgia to Texas might take me sixteen days and then some, unless I don't get to Georgia and head strait to Texas than it might take me close to a month." I ramble to myself as I walk more and think a bit as I fix my bag.
"Great got nothing but my thoughts for the rest of this trip." I mumbled t myself and I shake my head and I think a bit as I walked more and more. The night sky was coming down and I looked for a place to take some form of shelter but the only thing that was shelter was just a tree so I just kept walking on what little sleep I had been running on, which wasn't much. I kept a look around for anything and I saw an old RV so I decided to go in it for the night. I locked the door and looked around the cabin a bit as I see some old Banang in the cupholder and I don't open it knowing it was bag at this point. I looked to the table as I set some things down and then looked at the maps and marked my location for now and looked to see how many more miles I would have to walk.
"Ok I have a good while; I can do this." I mumbled to myself as I worked on my mapping and I sighed as I looked to the RV door and I went to check it again then looked to the maps and I set my bag by the door and I went and laid down on the old bench and closed my eyes a bit. I can't remember what I had dreamed but I know it wasn't a pleasant one at that. I got up from my sleep and looked around to still se it was dark out. I then closed my eyes once again and I dreamed more unpleasant dreams it wasn't till I couldn't take it anymore and I woke up completely and shook my head a bit as I groaned and went to look at the window to see a bit of sun so I get up and I looked around the RV a bit and then grabbed my bag and began to walk again. I began to hum a bit of a tune to myself to keep myself occupied at least.
"Atop the crags and cliffs, the air is thin, so we'll find a mountain path on down the hill, meet me, where the snow mount flows, it is there, my dear, where we will begin again, skipping stones, braiding hair, Last year's antlers mark the trail"
"Take us back, oh, take us back, Oh, take us, take us back, take us back, oh, take us back, Oh, take us, take us back."
"I've a friend who lives out by the river's mouth, He knows the fiddles cry is an old sound, A lonesome creeks and moans of empty houses, are songs of like fallen rain, Windblown buildings, muddy ground, the strength of water can sink a man."
"Take us back, oh, take us back, Oh, take us, take us back, take us back, oh, take us back, Oh, take us, take us back."
"When the higher hills have turned blue, And the waves are lapping where the children grew, all that we have known will be an echo, of days when love was true, Muted voices just beyond, the silent surface of what has gone." I sang as I looked at the trees and I sighed as I rubbed my neck a bit and kept walking and thinking of anything to keep myself busy as I just keep myself busy. It took me a few more days till I reached South Carolina and I took a break in an old hotel. It's been five days since I had left Joan's community so that means they have to be looking for me at this point.
"If I keep walking barely any stops, I could maybe make it to Texas faster, hell if I had my fucking bike, I would be able to make it faster than just a month." I rambled to myself as I go into the hotel and I just stay on the first floor and I rubbed my neck as I looked to my map and marked off the state and pulled out an old journal and wrote some information down and I shook my head a bit as I heard some walkers as I get up and ready for anything at any point in time. I watched the door a bit and I grabbed the chair and pushed anything up against the door to keep anything and anyone from getting in the room so I could try and have a small break at this point. I looked to the door a bit and I go and lay on the bed and close my eyes again and I take any rest that I could. I have no idea how long it had been but all I know is that I woke up to the sound of Walkers groaning a bit and I get up and looked to the door to see it was still barricaded and I get up slowly as I looked around the room a bit to see it was dark out and I groaned.
"Fuck I'm going to be behind." I get up from the bed and grab my things as I take the barricade down and put my ear to the door and heard nothing inside the hotel. I get out the room and head up the stair as I took a look out the fire escape and looked to see a huge horde of walkers and I shake my head and gripped my hair a bit as I looked for any way to get in and out the horde. I didn't want to kill any walkers and rub their guts on me at this point so I take a few breaths as I think and sigh as I go back into the hotel and I head into a room and barricade the door and I rubbed my neck as I set up the old burner and I begin to cook some food I had brought with me. It was just some dried deer meat and I looked at the flames as I ate some of the meat.
"This is kind of boring." I heard and looked around and saw Mary and I shake my head.
"Hmm you're not real." I mumbled as I ate a bit more and looked out the window.
"Keep saying that and I won't talk to you anymore." She says and I looked to her and then to the flames as I think.
"You ok?" She asked and I shut my eyes tightly.
"You are gone… you are dead." I mumbled and looked to see her still there.
"You made me to talk to me." She says and I sigh as I slicked my hair back a bit and looked to the window and saw that it was starting to rain a bit and I looked back to Mary who was just sitting there watching me.
"Fucking hell." I mumbled as I then took an old cup I had and drank out of it.
"I know you're scared." She says and I nod a bit as I looked to the small flame in front of me.
"You don't want her to find you." She says again and I lean back a bit as I looked to the ceiling, I wanted to look at anything but her.
"Clem and the others would help you." She says and I nod.
"You did good when you destroyed the truck." She says and I groan as I get up and walk away from the living room but she appeared next to me again and I looked to her.
"You haunting me?" I asked and she shrugged and I wiped my face a bit at this.
"Just… Just go away, I'm sorry I couldn't save you." I mumbled a bit as I looked out the window again to see the storm coming in and I could hear the walkers groaning outside below me. I watched them as best as I could but it was getting harder to see with the cold rain hitting the window, I was surprised that it wasn't snowing at this point with how cold everything has been at this time. I turn to see Mary gone and I sighed as I had some form of peace for now until I started to go crazy again. I went over to the couch they had in the hotels and I sat down as I looked to the ground a bit and I sighed as I laid back and fell asleep.