Lee finally got to the bottom of the ladder, and he was safe from the walkers for now. Now he just had to find a way to maneuver out of these sewers to get back to Clementine, and the rest of the group. Hopefully it wouldn't be too much of a hard task.
"Clementine, can you hear me?" he called out, but received no answer. They had probably already gone. "If you can hear me, just get back to the house, okay?" he yelled out once more.
Finally, he decided he better start moving if he wanted to reach the rest of the group in time. The sewers seemed practically empty as he walked, and everything looked the same. Lee thought that he'd probably end up getting lost or something like that, and he didn't want that to happen, because Clementine would worry about him.
After a few minutes, Lee could hear what sounded like the growling of walkers, and this was confirmed when he walked over and saw at least five of them devouring a dead body. Far from him was another walker, blocking his only exit.
"That could be the way out, but there's no way I could take out all those things by myself," Lee observed.
He entered the nearest passage to hide, and noticed a loose drainage pipe. Just for good measure, he turned it to the right, causing a small waterfall to pass through on his right. A walker meandered dumbly over to it, clawing at it as if it were alive.
"Good thing I'm out here and not in there," Lee said. He turned and noticed a walker standing outside of his exit. "Shit."
He turned to leave, noticing another passageway that was close. To open it, he used the ice pick that Molly had given him.
The door opened with ease, and he crawled out of it. Outside of the passage, he noticed another drainage pipe, and turned it once more, causing water to flow out of a grate. The noise from the water was enough to draw all the walkers away from the exit, and Lee took this as his chance to get the hell out of the sewers.
He crawled back through the passage, and this time, he was able to make it all the way through. Once he was in the clear, he began making his way to the exit, but stopped, when the dead body caught his attention. "Oh my God...Chuck..." He saw the body. "He must have tried to hide out down here, the poor bastard."
Lee then picked up the gun near his body, and checked it. "No bullets...must have used the last one on himself." He then looked back up to Chuck's dead body. "You deserved better, old man."
Meanwhile, Kenny, Clementine, and Molly had finally arrived back at the house.
Ben was the first one to see them, having been told to watch out for anything or anyone that entered the house. He looked at them and frowned, knowing that some people wouldn't be happy to see another new face.
"Where's Lee?" he inquired first.
"We had some trouble along the way," Kenny explained. "Clem and I were boosted to safety, but Lee got out a different way, under a sewer." Molly cleared her throat, and Kenny side-glared at her. "This here's Molly, this was who rang that bell this morning."
"You're welcome, by the way, for saving your asses," Molly chided. "You wouldn't have made it back here if it weren't for me."
Kenny ignored her and walked over to the large kitchen, rummaging through the drawers until he came in contact with a wine bottle. He gave a bitter smile at his stroke of luck. "Thank God."
He took the drink to the living room and sat down on the other side of the couch from Sarah, who was in there reading some book she had found. The young teen wondered where he had found that, but decided that it was best not to ask.
"Hey there," Kenny gave a glum greeting.
"Hi," Sarah awkwardly replied.
She noticed Molly walking around the dining room. "Who's that lady?" she asked Ben, who took a seat in the armchair closer to Kenny.
Ben shrugged. "I think her name's Molly? She came back with Kenny and Clem."
Sarah looked around. "Where's Clementine and Lee?"
"I'm right here Sarah," Clementine said as she came and sat down by Sarah. "Lee will be here soon, I know he will," the little girl said determinedly. "Where's your dad at?" she asked, referring to Carlos.
"He's upstairs, with Lilly," Sarah explained. "She's still sad."
"Oh," Clementine replied, unable to think of a more proper response. "And Christa and Omid are still upstairs?"
"Yeah, his leg is really messed up," Sarah replied.
"He'll get better, your dad is smart," Clem said, smiling at Sarah just a bit.
Back in the sewers, Lee had finally reached his exit, but there was no ladder for him to climb up to get out. He tried to jump with the ice pick, to see if he could make it, but he wasn't close enough, and hit a sign on the wall, knocking it over slightly. "What the hell?" he questioned at the crooked sign. He moved it out of the way, and noticed that there was a secret room behind it.
He walked in and noticed a shelf full of food, along with some beds. "Must have been one of those old fallout shelters," he told himself.
There was another door just ahead. Curiously, Lee walked over to it and opened it, a bit surprised at what he saw. This was an old hospital morgue, and there were four elderly people along with a younger woman. They all looked shocked at his arrival.
The sound of a loading gun cut Lee out of his stunned expression. One of the old men was now in front of him, pointing the firearm at him with shaky hands.
"Who are you?" he demanded.
"It's alright, it's okay," Lee tried to assure him. "I don't want any trouble."
"Neither do we. Which is why you'd do well to turn around and leave. R-Right now."
"Look, I'm sorry I disturbed you folks," Lee said, his hands up. "I'll just be going."
"You can't let him leave; he's from Crawford!" the younger woman piped up. "If he goes back there and they find out we're down here..."
"Are you from Crawford?" the man asked Lee. "Don't lie to me. I'll know."
"I'm not from around here," Lee responded truthfully. "I'm from Athens, grew up in Macon."
The man paused. "I have a brother in Macon. How was it? As bad as here?"
"I'm sorry."
"You can't trust him, Vernon!" the woman cried. "You can't let him leave!"
"What do you want me to do?" Vernon asked. "Shoot him in the head?"
"Why not?" the woman questioned. "That'd be more of a mercy than anyone from Crawford ever showed us. Think, Vernon! What do you think they'll do if they find out we're right underneath their feet?"
"Damn it, you're right," Vernon cursed.
"Look, you don't wanna do this. Let's talk, okay?" Lee coaxed.
The man still had the gun in his face. "What's to talk about? You won't even tell us who you are!"
"My name's Lee, and I'm a history professor. And I don't want to die today, and I don't think you want to kill me either," he replied, taking a step closer to the man named Vernon.
"Don't come any closer, or I'll shoot!" Vernon threatened.
"Come on, let's just talk about it," Lee persuaded once more.
"Vernon, what are you doing? Shoot him!" the woman yelled.
"Nobody needs to get shot. Just take it easy." Lee's voice was perpetually calm. He slowly reached out and took the gun away. "It's alright, it's okay."
"Vernon, what the hell are you doing?" the woman asked frantically. "Vernon!" She stepped in front of the older man, protecting him.
"Relax, I'm not here to hurt you," Lee reassured them.
"You're really not from Crawford?" Vernon questioned.
"No, I'm really not."
Vernon frowned. "Well, we are. Or were. We got out of there when they started sealing up the place, started sealing up the sick and the old so their perfect survivor society wouldn't be threatened. No room for weakness or vulnerability in their little master race."
"You don't look that old," Lee pointed out. "So, you're sick?"
"Were sick. We're all members of a cancer survivors group that used to meet here at the hospital," Vernon explained. "We're in remission. But that wasn't good enough for Crawford. They'd already rounded up five of us before the rest of us managed to hole up and hide from them down here. This old basement's been abandoned for years."
"What is this?" Lee asked, "A morgue?"
Vernon nodded, "Yeah, irony's always high on my list when I'm looking for a place to survive. How did you find your way down here?" He asked.
"My group and I were looking for a boat, and walkers separated us. Now I just wanna get out of here and find them again." Lee replied honestly. He didn't want to give this guy a reason not to trust him.
"That sewer system you came through runs all over the city. It'll take you wherever you want to go." Vernon said.
"Those things are like a damn maze, any chance you could help me find my way back?" Lee asked.
Vernon shook his head, "Look, I'd like to help you, but we've all got our own problems. Two in our group are sick and need constant care, and I'm the only doctor."
"Besides, why should we help you?" the woman spoke up again.
Lee sighed. "I have children in my group." And he wasn't fully lying, but still, he just wanted to get back to Clementine as soon as possible. No doubt she was probably worried sick about him.
"You're not seriously considering going with him?!" the woman exclaimed.
"It's all right, Brie," Vernon told her. "I had a daughter; I lost her in the first weeks. I'll be damned if I'll just sit here and let that happen to someone else."
"But we need you here!" another man told him.
"Don't worry, I'll be back before you know it."
Vernon hugged the woman, Brie, and briefly checked on the other survivors before making his way out of the fallout shelter with Lee.
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