I'm sorry for not updating lately guys. I was going to stop this chapter earlier, but then I realized that if I did it just would've been me pretty much re-telling the game. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Reviews and much appreciated! C:
Oh and sorry for boring you guys with the train instruction stuff, but I thought I might add in some of the stuff I was thinking at that part...make it seem more real. :)
I don't own The Walking Dead Game... D:
"Perfect."
After the Lilly situation had simmered down, Lee had returned to the front of the train to finish his earlier mission while Kenny learned the controls. Lee hoped that finally he could get this train going without any more interruptions. Carley had earlier taken Lilly, with her hands bound tightly this time, to the small clearing where the rest of the group was waiting to see what had happened. Carley had probably already broadcasted the news to everybody.
He held the notepad in his hands, the once invisible lettering now clearly marked in a yellowish white, contrasting with the pencil gray of the rest of the notepad. Even with the directions, he was confused. Were those levers? They looked like rectangles. It was obvious that whoever had made this was not an artist.
He turned around and faced the back wall of the room. It was separated into eight different squares, each one labelled one through eight. He took another glance at the paper in his hands. The first direction was labelled with six. He flicked his gaze at the sixth square on the back of the train.
Seven levers, side by side, all pulled down.
Taking another look at the notepad, Lee tried to memorize the pattern. Okay, it's down, down, up, up, up, down, up.
The first two were taken care of, so he moved on to the next. Lee flipped the third switch upward. A formerly dark light above the switch lit up. He quickly flipped up the fourth, fifth and last switch. The rest of the dash lit up.
"Son of bitch! Whatever you did lit the dash up!" Kenny exclaimed from his seat at the front of the train.
"So far, so good," Lee agreed. The next direction was labelled with five.
The fifth square was just on the left side of the sixth. It had two black dials, both vertical.
Alright then, just turn the first one over, Lee thought to himself as he reached out for the first dial. He twisted right it so it was horizontal, matching the directions.
The red light beside the dials turned off, and a green one above it flickered on.
"Now we're talkin'!" Kenny interrupted again. Lee was just glad that he could be enthusiastic about something.
Lee looked back at the notepad. The next direction was labelled nine. Nine? There's only eight in here...maybe it's outside.
Lee opened the metal door and stepped outside. It has to be somewhere around here...
Looking to his right, Lee noticed a series of metal double doors. Probably in one of those.
He took a step forward and pulled one of them open. Inside of the doors hung three very different wrenches. Looking at them, he realized that these would make great weapons. He reached out for the first one he saw. He was never one to use tools much, but he was pretty sure it was called a spanner. He weighed it in his hands, deciding that it was the perfect weight to carry around and still use as a blunt-force weapon. He tucked it in his back pocket. Lee closed the doors and moved left toward the only metal double-door that he hadn't opened. He grabbed both of the handles and tugged them open.
Yes!
Number nine was there. It was another dial, with four lights above it.
Easy. Just turn it left, then turn it right. Lee reminded himself as he grasped the dial between his fingers. He twisted it left until it was horizontal, then the reversed direction.
The train hissed to life. Kenny stepped outside from the front of the train, a wide grin spread across his face, "Holy shit, we're golden!"
Lee nodded. Finally something was going their way, "Yeah we are. Golden. Man, feels good."
Kenny turned his head, looking up at the sky, "Let's fucking enjoy this."
He paused a moment, then turned back towards the cab of the train, "C'mon. Let's see if she'll move."
Lee followed him back to the front of the train. Kenny sat himself down in the engineer's chair.
"It's all yours," he said, turning to face Lee. He leaned away, giving a small gesture at the throttle.
Lee extended his hand and pulled it. The train started to roll forward. Lee grinned and was about to comment when it suddenly jarred to a halt.
"Of course, we're still attached," Kenny gave a frustrated sigh, "Can you go find out where we're stuck, and get us UN-stuck?"
"Yeah," Lee replied, turning around and exiting the cab. He hurried down the walkway and climbed down the ladder. The sooner he could get this train going, the sooner they could be safe in a boat. Judging by the color of the sky, he had a feeling that it would be getting dark soon.
Having been lost in thought for a moment, he jumped when a hand was placed lightly on his shoulder.
His head whipped around to see Carley, an amused grin playing at her lips and spreading to her eyes.
She laughed lightly, "I knew I was scary, but not THAT scary."
Lee chuckled, blushing in embarrassment at how easily she had startled him, "You surprised me, that's all."
Carley's light laugh once again bubbled from her mouth, "Sure," she joked, pursing her lips. Her smile remained but her eyes shifted from amusement to curiosity, "So, what happened? I heard the train start moving; does it actually work?"
Lee nodded, "Yeah, it works, but Kenny says we're stuck somewhere."
Carley seemed to consider that a moment, "So...do you know a lot about trains?"
Lee smiled, "Hell no."
"Well that's reassuring."
"I think Kenny's got it under control."
"Good. If you can't trust me around the RV, then I at least have the right not to trust you around a freight train."
Lee laughed again; Carley seemed to make him do that a lot lately.
Carley's gaze shifted from Lee's eyes to the left side of his head, "How's your head? Does it hurt? Can you hear well?"
Lee realized that he had actually forgotten about his wound, "I'm fine. I completely forgot about it, actually."
"That's quite a thing to forget, Lee," she teased.
Lee smiled, "Yeah, I guess it is. But it's better than feeling it, right?"
Carley nodded slightly, smiling in relief.
"I'm gonna go see where the train is stuck so we can get going," Lee told Carley, slightly gesturing with his head towards the train car.
"Alright," she glanced back towards the clearing where Clementine sat on a log. Pausing a moment, the smile on her face disappeared and was replaced by a pained expression, "She...she still doesn't know that Duck is bitten. I...you should tell her. Or I can. I - I don't know."
Lee didn't want to have to tell Clementine that Duck was bitten, but he couldn't put that burden on Carley. Clementine needed to hear this from him - someone she had grown close to.
Hopefully Carley could be that close to Clem in the future, but for now, it had to be him.
"Are you okay?" Carley asked gently, Lee having been quiet for a while.
Lee cleared his throat quietly, "Yeah, I'm okay. I'll tell her. But I have to get this train going first."
Carley gave a single nod and turned back towards the clearing. After a moment of hesitation, she started back towards them.
Lee had to tear his gaze away from her as he made his way towards the train car. He swung himself into the car, and stood up. He crossed it directly, his gaze firmly set on getting the train loose.
He jumped back out on the other side, where he had seen the coupler. He walked the few feet to the back of the train-car, where the coupler was located.
When he had checked it before, it was rusted and stuck with dirt to the point it wouldn't budge. But most of it had been knocked off when the train strained against it.
Looking at it, Lee realized that he could use the spanner he had found earlier to pry the coupler pin out.
He reached behind his back and pulled the tool out of his pocket. Jamming it between the coupler bar and the small metal piece below it, Lee tilted the top of the wrench up. The coupler pin lifted slightly. Lee used his hands to lift it all the way.
Finally, they could get this train going. Lee tucked the spanner back into his pocket and climbed back into the train-car. He was halfway across when a gruff growl caused him to freeze.
Fuck...walker.
Don't kill me. I know Chuck is supposed to be in this part.
Or is he? Or maybe he isn't? :) I have my plans...