AN: Thank you all so much for the reviews I am so super happy to hear your ideas and even happier to see that you like this story. Some of your reviews could not have had better timing. Also, I total agree with you. More diversity. There's a good surprise in this chapter that helps to push the main plot into motion. Now please read on and review. I hope you like this chapter.
Five days of walking. Rebecca couldn't take much more but I doubted anyone else could either. We had little next to no food, slept on the ground and someone always had to take watch. People had no time to catch their breath as we raced as fast as we could to the mountains. We couldn't let Carver find us.
I looked down at Clem who smiled as she and Sarah went back and forth with a conversation about a book. I saw her smile and that made it even harder to consider leaving. Each night I had wanted to scoop her up and for the two of us to run away from these people. With each day we stayed the thoughts grew dimmer. She didn't want to leave, and I was starting to think I didn't want to either. These were good people like I had been told time and time again. It would kill me to watch them all die, I could just hope it wouldn't come to that. But it always did. Yet we still remained, stumbling through the woods in search of somewhere safe. We had all stopped just short of this large red bridge. Clem had crawled up onto a large rock and whipped out a pair of binoculars she had somehow picked up, I hadn't any idea where from. I watched her casually as her foot slipped out from beneath her as she climbed. I jumped forward and she smiled down at me before I could say anything, letting me know she was fine. I watched Luke pull out his map and try and make some sense of where we were. Clem called out what she saw and Carlos, Luke, and Alvin tried to make sense of it. They had come to the conclusion that this large lodge across the bridge was our best bet and it sounded much nicer than the woods. The bridge was soon declared passable and Clem jumped down from her perch on the top of the rock to join the rest of us. Luke put his large map away and turned to face an impatient Carlos.
"We have to cross that bridge. Let's go." Carlos said, are crossed tightly over his chest tightly.
"Hold on now. We can't all go sprinting across that thing, okay? If we get spotted out there, we're gonna be trapped." Luke said catching the groups attention.
"Going around that lake will take to long." Carlos rebutted, they always seemed to be battling with each other's ideas.
"Right. But… look, we've got no idea who's out there. Okay, I'm gonna sneak across and make sure it's clear before we bring the whole group over."
"You think splitting up the group is a good idea?"
"I never said it was a good idea. But it's better than riskin' everyone at once." Sounded fair. Carlos might not have liked the idea but we had nothing better, besides Luke really did run things. Something I had come to notice since our loss of Pete, he really stepped up to make sure everything went as well as it could. Nick was faltering while he struggled, though, grieving his uncle.
"Whats your plan?" Alvin asked as he obediently stood next to his wife.
"Scarlett, you're with me. Scar and I can scoot across low and slow and make sure nobody's waitin' for us on the other side." Nodding I agreed. It didn't seem as though the others were up to the task.
"We'll have a though time coverin' you from back here," Alvin added looking around the large rock at the bridge.
"Well, we'll just turn back if it gets hairy." Carlos looked at the ground sourly, I got the idea he still didn't quiet like me. I looked at Clem who stood beside Luke. She had taken a liking to him. Luke took notice of the groups silence and must have felt their unease.
"It's gonna be fine. Okay? We'll signal you guys in ten minuets. Just watch for a light at the far side."
"I can go too," Nick said, standing up from the rock where he had been sitting. He had a tight grip on his rifle.
"You stay with the group," Luke instructed
"I'm fine, Luke." His friend retorted
"I don't like this," Carlos said point at Luke, who readied himself for the trip across the bridge.
"Yeah, well, when's the last time you liked anything, Carlos?" Luke said with a scowl that only deepened when Nick spoke again.
"If somethin' happens, I'll cover you." Luke looked to me and without another word to his friend he nodded toward the bridge and said,
"Come on,"
I told Clementine to stick close to Rebecca before I followed Luke. He seemed impatient, just like the rest of us I suppose. He was normally so calm and collective. With everyone so on edge, it was hard to keep anything in order.
"Hey, uh, sorry about that. I just could really use your eyes, and right now I don't trust Nick to tie his own shoes. They're just still on edge after the Carver thing."
"Why does that bastard what us back so badly?" I sighed one hand on the hilt of my hunting knife as we walked through the well-worn path in the woods.
"Well, what's the most important thing in this world?" He asked catching me off guard with the strange question. "What does everyone want?" I looked at him slyly,
"That's a great number of things," I said and he gave me a small chuckle.
"Safety?" I guessed, trying to give him the answer he was looking for.
"Close. Listen, what's the one thing a guy would walk hundreds of miles to get back?" With those words, a memory I hadn't thought about in a long time swept through my mind.
My truck broke down. I walked the last fifty miles to get here. I needed to get back. You're all I have left now.
"Family," I answered, no doubt in my mind this was what he wanted to hear.
"Its a tough world out there without people you can trust. I just want you to know, you can trust us." He said with warm brown eyes, "We're not like Carver." He said in a deeply serious tone, this was so I understood he truly meant this.
"I know," I said reflecting his serious yet meaningful look. "I trust you, all of you." Luke looked happily surprised by my answer, and that same faint smile graced his soft features. Clem and I had been with these people for about a week and I had started to truly trust them. I could even say I was friends with most of them. As much as this frightened me, it was nice to have people around. I looked head to the path, still unsure if it was wise to share how they held my trust.
We came upon a clearing just before the bridge. One large walker stood swaying in the wind just before the entrance to the bridge. A second smaller one sat on the ground. We remained there at the end of the path as Luke scanned the scene before us.
"We can't shoot 'em. Too much noise. But they'res only two."
"We got this," I said taking my knife out of its sheath.
"Damn right." He said with a smile before doing the same with his machete. We slowly crept closer to the walkers before ducking down behind a rock to get a better idea of the situation.
"I'll take the big one. You get shorty. Wish we could use guns." He said sounding discouraged. I shook my head,
"Why waste the ammo? Let's go." I said standing up and creeping toward the stationary walker on the ground. In all honesty, I didn't even feel the slightest bit worried. Clem, Christa and I had taken out more walkers than this before with easy. With minimal effort, I plunged my knife into the head of the walker before it even knew what was happening. Luke made an easy job of the second one, chopping its head off in one smooth fluid motion.
"Nice work." He said as I put my knife away. I looked at the still body of the larger walker and nodded.
"Not too bad yourself." He smiled proudly having gained my survivalists approval. We started down the bridge on a thin dip just beside the wooden tracks. I walked in line behind Luke, he cautiously looked around every five seconds or so. We walked slowly and quietly as to not draw any attention. As we came upon what appeared to be an abandoned train car a pair of walkers stirred on the quiet tracks. One started pulling itself along the wooden tracks at an alarmingly quick rate. The other stood up and began limping toward us. I looked over my shoulder to see a third walker heading at us from the way we had come.
"Shit," Luke mumbled as he pulled out his machete. I freed my knife and watched as Luke headed toward the walker behind us, I went after the first one that had since grown to its feet. I was getting closer to it when I heard the snapping noise. I turned fast and saw Luke drop from the tracks down below with the walker. I felt all breath catch in my throat as I raced to the edge and saw Luke dangling by a pole trying to stay out of the walkers reach. I let myself breath again at the fact that he hadn't fallen to his death.
"Luke!" I called as he looked at me quickly before looking back at the walker.
"Scar, I'm okay, I just… I'm stuck" I nodded frantically and reached down to try and help him up. But he was too far down for reach me.
"You're just out of reach," I exclaimed panicked.
"It's okay. Scar, look, we'll figure something out. Behind you!" He shouted and in a panicked blurred I sprang up from where I had tried to reach Luke to see the first walker about to lunge at me. I kicked it's knee out from beneath it cause it to collapse to all fours. I reached back and swung my knife at his head but it shifted so the blade caught along its jaw. It stuck in muscle or maybe bone and I had to roughly twist the blade to free it. With all the force I could muster I pulled the knife free along with the creature's jaw. I stumbled back as I was thrown off balance. I was struggling to stay on the bridge and saw the first walker as it came running toward me, I jumped to the railing closest to me. My knife dropped and plummeted into the water with the walker just behind it. I had a relatively steady grip now but as the second walker came running at me I clambered down to get out of its reach. Losing my grip I slid the rest of the way down.
"Fuck!" I shouted my legs dangling beneath me, my arms hardly holding on and a walker clawing at me from above. I took a deep breath and tried to steady myself. Slowly I pulled myself back to where to beams concocted and the walker came stumbling at me. I swung myself around the beams so I was back on the bridge and the walker still stuck between the red metal bars. It quickly followed me and came to stand on the bridge again. I grabbed a nearby pole and plunged it into the things head. With a sharp cutting noise, the walker fell limp. I raced over to where Luke had fallen and found he hadn't changed. I tossed him the pole and he used it to stand. He quickly clambered back onto the bridge. He stood there for a time, bent over catching his breath. I took this much-needed rest to make sure my heart didn't break any ribs it was pounding so fast thanks to the combination of adrenaline and fear I had suddenly been flooded with.
"You, you okay?" I asked panting.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Thanks, Scar I owe you." He said, his face covered in blood and a scratch over his right eyes.
"Yeah you do," I said with a smile that he returned, knowing I was joking, partially.
"Let's keep going." We got around the wrecked train car and made our way further down the tracks. I looked out over the water, it was a long drop. Both of us had nearly fallen. Luke put an arm out in front of me, I walked into it before realizing he wanted me to stop.
"You see him?" He asked while looking dead ahead as a man came walking down the frail wooden tracks.
"Yeah."
"Just play it cool. And you do the talking."
"Is that really such good idea? Why don't you do it?"
"'Cause I don't want to get in a fight. He's less likely to shoot you anyhow."
"Why, cause I'm a girl?" I asked sounding angry. He looked down at me confused.
"No, cause you ain't got a weapon." My eyes widened in surprise as I looked down at my empty knife holster.
"Oh," I said looking down at my feet slightly embarrassed I had jumped to anger, that was a problem of mine. I took a breath as the man drew closer and took a few steps myself, Luke had a hand on his gun ready to fire.
"Well, who are you?" The man asked as he got closer. Now I saw he held tightly to a rifle.
"Were people, same as you," I said nodding toward the man. He came even close his walk smooth and laid back.
"Huh. You don't look like assholes. Are you assholes?" He asked and Luke took his hand away from his gun.
"You're the one holding a gun."
"Touché." He said, now he was close enough to make out what he looked like. "You folks headed north like everyone else?"
"Everyone else?" Luke questioned
"I see at least one group a day move through here. You all look the same. It's like a great migration of the dazed and confused."
"You haven't run into a woman named, Christa have you?" I asked with the hope that she might still be alive.
"Christa? Maybe."
"Really?!" I asked my hope lit brightly.
"Nah, I mean, a lot of people come through here. I don't know. I gotta say, you two look like shit. If you need food, I've got some canned stuff in that station back there." He said looking over his shoulder to the small house strutter Clem had spotted earlier.
"Well, that's, uh… awfully nice of you. What's the catch?" Luke said, maybe he wasn't so trusting after all.
"No catch I've got plenty."
"Well all right, then, thank you," Luke said with that same old kind smile.
"Hey, no problem. Nice running into friendly faces out here. Like I said, I've got food and supplies back in the station. And if you want…" The man was cut off as his face struck with fear and his eyes caught something behind us. "What the fuck, man?" He exclaimed as we all turned to see Nick running our way.
"What the hell is he doing?" He ran up just short of the train and lined up his rifle, the kind stranger did the same and Luke and I stood caught between them.
"No, no, no, no! He's wi- he's with us!" Luke tried to explain in a panicked spew of words. The man looked at us confused then back to Nick.
"Nick! No!" Luke shouted, waving his arms trying to get his friends attention.
"No! Don't sho-" I was cut off but a loud gunshot. Luke through one arm around me and pulled me to the ground just as it went off. My head just below his shoulder as he made sure I didn't get hit. After a couple seconds while nothing but ringing filled my ears Luke looked up. Moving a little farther from me but not letting go. There we saw the stranger holding his neck, blood pulsing out from beneath his fingers in streams running down his shirt. He raised his gun to try and stood but tumbled off the bridge and into the water. Luke and I raced to the edge to see the splash as the man landed. Luke turned, fury burned in his face as he walked toward Nick.
"Did I hit him? Where is he?!" Nick ask.
"I told you not to shoot," Luke said to the dark haired man.
"What? Who was that guy?"
"Why didn't you wait for a signal?"
"We thought you were in trouble. You were wavin' your arms!" Nick said eyes squinting in defense he was starting to get mad.
"He was going to help us," I said sounding rougher than I meant to.
"How do you know?" Nick snapped in response.
"Damnit, Nick, I told you not to shoot." Luke scolded his friend.
"How was I supposed to hear you? You gave me a clear shot!"
"That shot rang out for miles. We gotta get off this bridge. Let's go." Luke said waving the others over. Without another word to his friend or any of the others Luke started down the rest of the way fast. He nodded for me to follow in his passing so I remained at his side, looking over my shoulder once to make sure Clementine was safe with the others. She walked in line with Sarah, she was okay. As we got closer to the edge of a bridge another figure came into view.
"Shit," Luke whispered as he stopped motioning for the others to do the same. There was a man at the end of the bridge, rifle drawn and pointed at us. Nick went to draw his weapon but a stern look from Luke made him stop.
"Who the fuck are you people? What the fuck happened?" The man asked sounding panicked. There was something familiar about this man. Luke put his hands in the air and took a breath.
"Were just people, there was a man out on the bridge, he drew on us." He tried to explain sounding more menacing than comforting.
"Did- did you kill him?!" The man shouted his voice cracking.
"Its was an accident. Look we have kids with us. We don't mean any harm." I said mimicking Luke and putting my arms up. The man slowly lowered his gun.
"You." He said pointing the gun at me. "Come here." Panic shot through me, I nodded and took a step forward with shaky legs. Luke grabbed hold my arm, I turned to look at him.
"What are you doing?" He asked in a low voice.
"Whatever it takes to make this crazy asshole not kill us," I said he still didn't let go. "If it looks like anythings gonna happen, shot." I said trying to persuade him into letting go.
"Now!" The man shouted Luke let go of my arm and I slowly got closer to the man. When I was between him and the other he shouted for me to stop. I did. He didn't put the gun down examined me from afar. I couldn't tell much about him, he looked like a scavenger, maybe a deal could be made.
"Whats your name?" He asked and I squinted at him confused, never the less I answered.
"Scarlett, these people are my group," I said casting a quick look at the others. The man dropped his gun to his side.
"Your last name wouldn't happen to be, Lewis would it?" He asked and caught me by surprise.
"It is, how did you know that?" The man completely lowered his gun now and stood there smiling.
"What kind of idiot would I be if I didn't know my own last name?" I froze everything came to a massive halt inside my head. "How long has it been now? A year, two? I didn't even recognize you."
"Tommy?" I asked breathlessly.
"Hey, little sister." I slowly started walking toward him, then I was jogging, then I was sprinting. Until I closed the gap between us. I stood astonished in front of him. His blond hair that match mine touched the bottom of his neck and hung just above his ears. His face covered in a light beard and dirt. He shook his head after getting a better look at me and came forward and hugged me. I wrapped my arms under him so my hands rested on his shoulders.
"I thought you died," I mumbled into his filthy jacket.
"I knew you didn't." He said pulling away from our hug. He was alive. My brother, my family, alive.
AN: Hi here I am again. Boom her brother is alive and with him lots of secrets will be revealed. You're going to find out a lot about Scarlett as a character and her past. I'm sorta branching off from the original story here to add some new stuff that might have been seen by Clem and her story. Hope you enjoyed. Stay posted.