A/N: Whooo...had a near scare earlier the other day. My computer had a small crash and I nearly lost everything that was on my laptop. But thankfully everything's fine and in good shape.
I've gotten a lot of questions since the last chapter, one of the main ones being why Jason hasn't used the 'Walker-Blood' plan to get through the horde outside the pharmacy. The answer is simple, there was no guarantee it would work. Let's face it if you guys tried that, and it didn't work, you'd be pretty fucked. Of course the chances of whether or not he'll do it in the future is still a possibility.
The poll has definitely taken a drastic turn as well, the new results are in;
Maggie: 7
Molly: 4
Carley: 3
Lilly (Reformed): 3
There's still a lot of time left to cast your vote guys, but at this rate things are looking pretty one-sided at this point. But enough about this, let's get on with it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Walking Dead
Previously, on Fight for Survival...
They looked down the street, still illuminated by the street lamps as Kenny spoke again. "We've got beds, we've got water and most importantly, we've got light. There are worse places to call home."
"Yeah. You're right." Lilly agreed. "You know guys, I think it's going to be alright."
Not a second later, the street lights started going out one at a time. Followed swiftly by the ones around the motor inn. Clementine ran through the parking lot and clung to Jason's side as the last of the lights went out and they were all plunged into darkness.
Chapter 4: Starved for Help
X Three Months Later X
The cool autumn air breezed through the forest, the once vibrant trees and foliage now either completely bare of leaves or shrouded in various arrays of orange, red and yellow with the changing of the season.
Amongst the remaining brush, a lone walker sat hunched over the corpse of a small, woodland creature. Grey, decaying fingers ripping into the tiny, furry body and pulling out the poor creature's insides before bringing it towards its awaiting mouth.
A twig snapped behind it making it pause in mid-bite, groaning in the back of its throat as it turned to look over its shoulder to see what was behind it only for a small red blur to slam into the side of its skull and knock it to the ground. It struggled to get back up as a black, steel-toed shoe pinned it down. The individual gripping the axe in their hand a little tighter before raising it above their head and brining it down with crushing force on to its face.
Blood, rotting tissue and grey matter splattering across the ground as the monsters head was completely destroyed under the force of the blow.
Jason Harlow had changed in the last few months since arriving in this universe. The harsh and cruel world filled with the living dead had hardened him to the horrors that surrounded him on a regular basis, allowing him to put aside his emotions and make harsh decisions when they needed to be made.
He'd also changed physically. His frame had a bit more muscle packed on to it then it had before. His hair had grown out, still very short but much shaggier than before, his facial hair had also grown a bit giving him a slight five o'clock shadow.
The fighter's attire had also taken a drastic change as well. He wore a pair of cargo jeans with black knee-pads and shin guards stitched into the legs, a long-sleeve black under-armor shirt underneath a denim jacket with elbow-pads stitched into the arms. The forearms had black duct tape wrapped around them incase a walker attempted to bite him.
It was what he refered to as 'walker-armor' and only wore it when he left their little haven back at the motor and hadn't let him down so far. The multiple teeth marks already in the tape being proof that no undead had succeeded in getting to his flesh so far.
Exhaling, Jason braced his foot on the dead walker's collarbone and pulled the axe free. Flexing his fingers in the black MMA gloves he was wearing on his hands. Something he had picked up on one of his last trips through town on a supply run and going through a sporting goods store on the way out. He'd upgraded them to help him even more when he was out and about.
Having removed most of the knuckle padding and inserting two half-pound metal plates, sealing them up with a strip of duct tape, they made every punch he threw multiple times more powerful and damaging. And after testing it out, was extremely effective in close-quarters.
Turning toward what the walker was feasting on, he approached the small corpse just as another individual holding a hunting rifle came out of the woods toward him. An older man with slicked black hair with glasses wearing a black button shirt with a name patch reading 'Mark' over a white t-shirt and black jeans stepped up beside him and looked down at the unfortunate creature.
"Dammit. What'd they get this time?" the man asked.
Jason kneeled down and looked it over, shaking his head. "I think it was a rabbit. Fuck! Another meal gone." he cursed before getting back up and laying the axe back on his shoulder as they began to walk farther into the woods.
Mark sighed, "I can't believe that we went through all that commissary food in 3 months. It seemed like so much at the time."
"It at least got us this far. If it wasn't for you opening the door that day, we'd all be nothing but bones right now." said the fighter keeping his eyes trained on to the nearby trees incase they had company.
The other man nodded, "Yeah, I'd probably BE food by now if you guys didn't invite me in. Definitely have no regrets about sharing what I had stocked up on. But now that we're down to just the bare minimum..." he trailed off.
"We're all hungry, Mark." Jason said with a deep sigh. "We just gotta make due with what we have until we can either gather more supplies or actually manage to score something in these damn hunts we go on."
"I hear you. When I accidentally grabbed for Carley's rations the other night, I thought she was gonna take my hand off!" Mark said with a slight shiver remembering that incident vividly.
"She's on edge, hell, we all are considering. Don't hold it against her." came the reply as they stepped over a cluster of roots.
Mark nodded, "Yeah, you're probably right. I just wish I knew for sure how much food we have left."
"Enough to hold us over for another week...or less depending on how we ration it." Jason said grimly. "Especially with how Lilly's been passing it out to everyone, people are gonna go without again tonight, that much I can say for sure."
The other man cringed, "Oh, 'Lilly's Lottery' again? Kenny's gonna be pissed." he looked over at the younger man. "You think he's having any more luck than us out here?"
Jason shrugged, "Hopefully, because we're coming up pretty empty at this point." They reached the top of a small hill and looked around for anything that could be considered a meal. But nothing moved, there weren't even any sounds from animals that would usually move about the forest.
Apparently mother nature knew to avoid the walkers as well.
"You know, between the lack of food, and Kenny and Lilly at each others throats all the time, things are getting pretty tense back at the motor inn." Mark looked over at the fighter, "You know, Kenny's been talking about taking off if he can get that RV running."
"I know," Jason replied with a serious expression, "I've been helping him fix it. Clem and I are heading out with him and his family when we get the chance." This got him a shocked look from the other man.
"You can't be serious...Jase, we're all safer in a bigger group. Going out on your own like that could get you all killed."
The fighter turned his gaze on him, "Staying in one place for too long when nearly all the resources have dried up isn't much better. That, and it's only a matter of time before the walkers start pounding on our boarders in large numbers. Can't fight a horde when your starved and running low on ammo, Mark."
The man sighed after a few moments, "Can't really blame you with that logic. Well, that and Larry constantly causing trouble." He smirked as he looked at the younger man again. "Can't believe you knocked out two of his teeth two weeks ago, that was really something."
It was true, at the time the situation with the food had really caused a lot of stress in their group. After the kids were put to bed they had all gathered in the now fenced in parking lot to talk about what kind of action to take. Lilly wanted to ration everything they had, selectively choosing who would get food at certain points while Kenny thought that it would be best to not let anyone starve.
The whole thing snowballed out of control and started a huge blow up between the two like so many incidents before it. Larry stepped in after too long, standing in his daughter's corner but ultimately proving that he had little to no tact for such affairs. Bellowing about how Lilly was doing the decision making and that they should all fall in line.
Kenny didn't like that and fought back which resulted in the old veteran punching him in the jaw and knocking him to the ground. That was when Jason stepped in:
Flashback
"If that's all you got packing you old fucker, then you're in a world of trouble!" Kenny shouted, getting to his feet and wiping the small amount of blood from his lip. Katjaa at his side trying to calm him down but he just glared at Larry who was cracking his knuckles.
"You and what gay-pride parade you fucking redneck? My daughter's doing what's best for this group. If you don't like it, then take your woman and your fucking brat and take off!" he bellowed just as Jason stepped out of the room he shared with Clementine on the second floor.
Making sure that the girl was asleep in her own bed before closing the door behind him and heading down to the parking lot before things got more out of hand. Going past Mark and Carley as they stood off to the side.
"Dad! That's enough!" Lilly demanded.
"Stay out of it Lilly!" Larry snapped before turning back to Kenny. "Well asshole? You gonna backup those words or are you going to puss out because your woman's standing there?" He felt someone shove his shoulder and he whirled around in time for a fist to connect hard against his face and knocking him to the ground.
Looking up hatefully to see Jason standing over him with his fists clenched. "You son of a-" he lunged at the younger man only for him to dodge around his grasp, bringing his knee hard into his gut and grabbing his outstretched arm. The fighter twisted the limb behind the man's back and slammed his head hard into the asphalt as he pressed his heel down on the back of his neck.
"I. Warned. You." he hissed between clenched teeth before glaring in Lilly's direction. "Keep this fucker on a tighter leash, Lilly. Or I swear I'll put him down and toss his corpse over the wall. I understand that our rations are running low and we have to preserve what we got, but you forget that there are NINE of us including TWO children. There's gonna be friction and stress and we need to deal with this before it tears us apart."
"If it comes down to it I'll gladly give up my share to make sure that Clementine is fed and I can guarantee that Kenny would do the same for Duck and Katjaa. We need to put our heads together to figure this out instead of this constant bitching."
Larry struggled and he pressed his heel down a little harder making him grunt. "And THIS asshole isn't making things any better! Just because you THINK you're entitled to anything because Lilly's our impromptu leader don't mean jack shit. You keep pushing everyone like this, then everyone will turn on you and when that happens you'll have nothing left."
He released the man and stepped back, allowing him to spit out a glob of blood on to the black-top that had two small teeth in it. "I'm sick of being referee every time you guys get in a fucking pissing match. Figure it out, fix the problem, and straighten the fuck out! Or we'll all regret it in the end." Without another word he spun on his heel and stormed toward the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Lilly called after him while her father picked himself off the ground.
"To bed, I'm going on a supply run tomorrow. Carley, wanna tag along?" The reporter nodded at him as he went back to the upper balcony and disappeared into his and Clementine's room. Flopping himself on his bed next to the one his charge occupied and staring at the ceiling until exhaustion finally took him.
Flashback End
"Larry's got a temper that will eventually lead to a problem if he doesn't get his act together. I don't feel right about cleaning his damn clock every time he tries to hurt someone else, violence isn't always an answer." Jason admitted as they started moving again.
"If he put even half that energy toward finding more food, instead of being so hostile, we'd be better off by now." said Mark. Pausing as he watched a crow fly over head and land on a tree branch a couple of meters away. "I know Lilly thinks he's getting weaker, but he's all muscle. He's practically a walking piledriver."
"With a glass jaw." the fighter thought with a slight smirk as they began to stalk slowly toward the bird had perched itself. They kneeled down behind a rock while Mark took aim with the rifle only for Jason to reach out and lower the barrel. "One bird isn't worth bringing a horde down on us, man."
Mark sighed, "Yeah, I know...I'm just...really freaking hungry."
A loud yell echoed through the forest causing the lone bird to fly off. "Shit! was that Kenny?!" Mark said jumping to his feet.
The fighter was already on his feet and running in the direction the sound had come from, the other man trailing behind him, trying to keep up as the trees blurred past them. Heart hammering in his chest as he wondered if what they had heard was from their friend and if he was in trouble or not.
Axe clutched tightly in his hands while he pumped his legs, Jason slid to a stop and listened as another shout of pain pierced the air. This time much closer as they ran to the right in the general direction of where it had originated. They found the source a moment later, in the form of two teenage boys wearing white and blue Letterman's jackets with 'S.M.' imprinted on them kneeling by an older man wearing a similar outfit with his leg enclosed in a bear-trap, blood already pooling on the dirt below as he whimpered feebly.
One of the boys tied a belt tightly around the trapped man's leg to slow the bleeding as the other two approached. "Jesus Christ..." Mark muttered in slight shock.
"Oh shit!" one of the kids yelled, standing and holding his arms up next to his friend. "No...please don't kill us! We just want to help our teacher! We'll leave, I swear!" he pleaded.
Running footsteps could be heard as Kenny ran into the clearing. "Jase! Is everything okay?" he looked down at the scene before them and grimaced. "Shit."
"Get it off! Get it off, god dammit, get it off me!" the man begged while holding his wounded leg.
"Travis! Maybe these guys can help!" one of the boys said to the other.
"These might be the same guys that raided out camp and...We barely got away from that!" said Travis not taking his eyes off the other group.
"What guys? Why the fuck is there a bear-trap out here?!" Kenny wondered as Jason stepped forward.
"Look, we didn't attack you guys. But we need to find a way to get him out before it attracts..." he looked past the boys and gnashed his teeth. "Fuck."
Walkers had obviously heard the man's cries of agony and were beginning to amble into the other side of the clearing. "Dammit! Do what you can, I'll cover you!" Kenny called out bringing his own rifle to eye level.
Mark was already on his knees looking over the trap when he looked up at Jason, "This trap's been altered. There's no release latch."
"Keep the boys back! I'll think of something." the fighter said looking the device over. The whole thing was made from low carbon steel, attached to a thick chain that was wrapped around a nearby tree. There was no possible way of cutting the chain, and Mark had been right about there not being a release latch on the trap itself.
Jamming the head of the axe into the traps hinge, he put all his weight into it to try and break it open while Kenny opened fire on the coming walkers. He grunted from the exertion, but no matter how much he put into it the thing wouldn't give an inch.
He tried it from the other side but had the same result, by this point Mark had also started shooting at the undead as they began to steadily grow in number. "FUCK! Nothing's working! Can't break it open, can't cut the chain, we'd be dead before I even put a dent in the tree holding it. That only leaves..." he looked down at the man's bleeding leg, his blood running cold and his stomach dropping as he realized that there was only one way to get him out of this.
"Just get me out! Please!" the man shouted over the gunfire.
Jason slowly rose to his feet, holding the axe in both hands as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do.
The trapped man seemed to catch on as well as the blood drained from his face. "...oh...god...no..."
"I'm sorry." the fighter said sadly, "But it's the only way." He didn't give the man a chance to scream as he raised the axe and brought it down blade-first on to the man's shin, slicing through flesh and cracking bone when it made contact.
The screams of pain stretched high above the trees making all in attendance, that was living anyway, to cringe harshly.
Bringing it up again, Jason swung down on to the limb even harder. Spraying blood and bone fragments from the stump he was creating and making the man's cries even louder. Trying to push it all from his mind as he brought the weapon up a third time and swung it down, completely separating the bone and only leaving a patch of muscle and flesh keeping the leg together, a crimson river flowing freely from it.
One last swing and the leg came free, the man looked down in horror at his new stump before passing out from the pain and blood loss he had suffered. "He's free, come on!" he shouted, tossing his axe to Mark who caught it as he grabbed the unconscious man and slung him over his shoulders to carry him.
Travis retched on to a nearby bush from what he had witnessed, and because of this didn't see the female walker come up behind him. "KID LOOK OUT!" Kenny shouted. The teen spun only to be grabbed by the face.
"OH NOOOOO-GUGGGGGAAAAAAHHHHGGGGG!" The creature's rotten teeth sank into the flesh of his throat, crushing his wind pipe before tearing out as it brought him to the ground where three others piled on top and began tearing his body apart.
"TRAVIS NO!" The other boy screamed as he tried to go help him, being held back by Mark.
"THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO FOR HIM! MOVE!" Jason shouted as they all began running in the opposite direction, the pursuing walkers going for the much easier meal as the survivors ran through the forest back toward their haven.
X
The Traveler's Motel had taken on some serious renovations in the last three months.
A Strongly built fence constructed out of wooden boards and debris was lined up along the front with metal posts with barbed wire stretching along between them. The two cars that had been in the parking lot when the survivors had moved in had been moved to the exits to make the openings smaller and were sealed off with heavy dumpsters so only the living could get in or out.
A couple of couches, chairs and tables were set up in the center near the RV that had its sun blind out. It was a lot of hard work setting up and maintaining their small stronghold, but it was worth it in the end for them to have a safe place to stay all this time.
Currently, the survivors were spread out on the property doing a number of things. Larry was using a rock as he hammered a couple of new boards on to the fence. Katjaa was keeping an eye on the kids. Duck drawing on a large piece of wood laid out on the ground happily. Clementine kicking a soccer ball aimlessly against an empty barrel, her baseball cap missing from its place on the top of her head as she continued about her business.
Carley was sprawled out on the couch close to the RV, arm draped over her eyes as she tried to catch some sleep after her shift of keeping watch. And Lilly was perched upon the RV's roof, rifle in hand as she survey everything around her for hostility. Gaze occasionally going to the people below that were her responsibility to look out for and smiling down at her father as he took a break from his task.
The stress of their supplies running out had been taxing on her, she really wished that things could be different, but until they got their hands on another supply of food it was going to be hard on everyone. That, and a recent check of the well that connected to the motor inn proved that their water reserves would start to run out soon.
With winter coming, all of them dressed for the occasion in one fashion or another...and things were only going to get worse if a little luck didn't come their way soon.
The sound of a twig breaking in the nearby forest made her snap to attention, rifle pressed to her shoulder and eyes down the sights as she surveyed the treeline. Slowing her breathing, the only sound being the wind around her and Clementine's ball hitting the metal barrel below, she strained her ears to pick up any more noise.
More rustling, and it was growing closer. Lilly whistled, her signal for everyone to be on alert which got everyone in motion. Dropping into cover immediately as she waited for whatever was making the disturbance showed themselves.
A moment later, Jason came shuffling out of the forest. An unconcious man with a bleeding stump for a foot slung over his shoulders while Kenny, Mark and a teenage boy came out behind him. "Get the gates open! We got a man down!" He called up to her after taking several deep breaths from his hike with the extra weight.
"Shit! What the hell are they doing?" the woman wondered as Mark helped move the dumpster they used as their 'gate' out of the way, Kenny standing guard while Carley and Katjaa helped the fighter move the man on to the property and lay him in the back of the pick up that they had left where it had been.
Everyone was talking at once, making it hard to understand what any of them were saying as Katjaa began to look over the wounded individual. "Kat, do you think you can fix him?" asked Kenny after they had put the gate back in place.
"Jesus, Ken! I...I don't know!" she exclaimed while trying to access the grevious injury.
"Jason! What the fuck! You can't just be bringing new people here! What are you thinking?!" Lilly demanded as the fighter leaned against the truck to catch his breath, Clementine right next to him checking to see if he was okay.
"Hay! You wanna calm down for a fucking minute!" Kenny shouted right back.
"No, I don't! I want to know why you thought bringing more mouths to feed was a good idea!?" the woman exclaimed, turning her attention to the fighter as he stood back upright again.
"I took his fucking leg to save his life!" he said frustrated at the situation. "Another kid that was with him was killed before we could get out, I was THINKING about making sure other people lived!"
Larry scoffed, "Well that was a stupid thing to do!"
"We are NOT responsible for every struggling survivor we come across!" Lilly shouted, pointing a finger in Jason's face. "WE have to focus on OUR group! Right here! Right now!"
Carley was about to say something when Jason got right in the other woman's face, "Is that a fact? What about with what happened to YOUR DAD back at the pharmacy?! I could have just walked away! Focused on MY GROUP and left him to fucking die on the floor! Instead I stepped up and did what I could to get him his pills, and how was I thanked? THE MOTHERFUCKER PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE AND LEFT ME FOR DEAD!"
A chilled silence blew through the group then, Lilly's eyes were wide and she leaned back from the fighter as his glared burned through her. "Don't fucking stand there all high and mighty, because I don't see YOU out there risking your fucking neck on hunting and food runs like the rest of us. And I will knock more of your fucking teeth out if you take another step old man." His glare turned on Larry who had taken a couple of steps toward him with clenched fists, freezing on the spot as memories of their last confrontation coming to mind.
The teen, Ben, looked to be getting really uncomfortable with what was going on. Trying his best to make himself as small as possible when he felt a small hand tugging on his. Looking down at Clementine, she started leading him away from the confrontation. "Come over here and see what I drew." she said softly.
"What? No, I..." he tried but eventually allowed the girl to lead him from the rest of the group.
"You know, you like to think you are the leader of this little group, but we can make our own goddamn decisions! This isn't your own personal dictatorship!" Kenny said stepping in. "And Jason's right, it was different when it was YOUR DAD, but when it's someone else we just fuck 'em?"
"Come on, you're being dramatic!" Carley stated garnering their attention. "Everything always turns into a power struggle between you two. I'm not gonna be a part of that." with that being said she stomped off leaving the rest of them.
Lilly turned back to Kenny, "Hey, I didn't ask to lead this group! Everyone was happy to have me distributing the food when there was enough to go around, but not that it's running out, suddenly I'm a goddamn Nazi!"
"ENOUGH!" Jason roared, his voice echoing off the walls around them. "Jesus FUCKING Christ! Do I have to lock you two in the room and let you beat the shit out of each other! Carley's right, this goddamn power struggle you have going on has to end!"
He turned to Lilly first, "Those guys are here now, there's no changing that. We let them stay long enough for that poor bastard to recover and we can send them on their way if we have too." he turned to Kenny, "Ken, thanks for stepping up like that. But don't let everything that happens lead to a fight between you guys. We need to stand united. If something happens and we're divided like this then we're fucked! Can either of you live with yourselves if someone died because neither of you could pull your head out of your asses?"
Silence was his answer. "I wasn't kidding last time this happened. Figure your fucking shit out and resolve the problem. We can't have this kind of stress affecting the group."
"I don't see any of you stepping up to make the hard decisions!" Larry bellowed. "My girl's got more balls than all of you combined!"
"Really?" the fighter said standing at his full height, "I see you eating alright, did you ever give up any meals in the last couple weeks so that your kid could eat?" at that moment a rough hunger pain ripped through his insides. The last time food rations had been handed out he had given most of his share to Clementine so she could have a bigger meal. It wasn't easy, and he could feel himself getting a little weaker from the lack of sustenance, but it was worth it for his charge's well being.
Larry leveled a harsh glare at him before spinning around and stomping off toward where Mark was now working on the fence. Kenny too that as the sign to leave as well leaving Jason and Lilly alone.
"You think this is so easy for me?" she asked the younger man, "Everyone's starting to hate me because I'M the one that rations the food. But NOBODY else wants to."
Jason sighed, running a hand through his hair as he calmed himself down, "Lilly, I get how that can be a strain on anyone. I never said that it was easy for you, infact I'm pretty sure I'd make similar choices in your situation. But getting in people's faces like that is a sure-fire way to get the people around you to turn on you."
He looked around the parking lot before going back to the woman, "You know what? Give me todays rations. I'll hand them out this time."
"Are you sure?" Lilly asked, a little surprised at the offer.
The fighter gave a smiled that never reached his eyes, "Lilly, I just cut a man's leg off with an axe. Nothing can be worse than that." the woman cringed at the mere thought of it before moving over to the backpack that held the rations, coming back with half an apple, two packages of cheese and crackers, and a large strip of beef jerky.
"Here...good luck." she said before heading toward the RV and moving up to the lookout perch on top. Jason looked down at the food in his hands, shoving them in his pockets as he looked around the motor inn.
"Four pieces of food for ten hungry people...this isn't going to be easy." he thought turning toward Katjaa as she worked on the wounded man. "Kat, is he going to be okay?" he asked as blood began dripping out of the truck's bed and on to the asphalt.
"I don't know, give me a hand for a second." she replied as he moved up to stand by her. "Apply pressure here while I try and close this." she pointed out while she worked on stitching what she could of the man's bleeding stump. The fighter put both his hands down on the leg and applied as much pressure as he could to stop the flow while she worked.
A second or two passed between them before the woman spoke again. "You know, I thought I was starting to get used to this...sewing people's injuries..." she looked his way. "How's your arm, by the way?"
Jason rolled his left shoulder, the stitches that had been in his left-bicep having been long removed after an accident during a food run over a month ago. "Was always told scars were cool." he admitted getting a light laugh out of Katjaa that quickly stopped as soon as it started.
"Cuts and bruises are one thing, but, Jason, this man has no leg!" she looked at her hands a moment, both of them coated in blood as she continued to work as best she could.
"I know I did the right thing, Kat." he said with a slight nod.
She nodded in return, "I know you did. The right thing is scary sometimes I guess." after another few seconds she turned to him again. "Well, you've done what you can. Thanks for the help."
"Do your best, that's all anyone can ask." he said before heading toward the spot where the kids were gathered. He still had another job to take care of.
X
The dull hum of the light above the sink echoed through he small bathroom. Standing over it naked from the waist up, Jason soaked a washcloth under the very small stream of water coming from the faucet before wiping the stray pieces of dirt and grime from his face and chest.
With the water running out, showers were no longer an option for the time being and they had to make due with what they had.
After removing the last traces of dirt, he took a long look in the mirror. His face had hard-lines running along it. Dark circles forming under his eyes from lack of sleep in the last couple of days, his frame was still muscled, but had lost a small amount of fat from missing a few meals. His tired eyes looked to his arm, the same one Katjaa had mentioned earlier.
A long, jagged pink line ran from the top of his shoulder to the center of his bicep, a bi-product of what had happened during a food run. It had been him, Mark and Carley at the time, going into Macon to see if they could find anything left they could use.
They'd been cornered in a small store by walkers and had no way out. With no other means of escape and time running out, the fighter made the rash decision to throw himself through a lightly boarded window, a large chunk of glass slicing his arm open but giving them a chance to get away.
It hurt like a bitch, but it had been worth it as they returned to the motor inn that night. Katjaa was able to stitch him up no problem, no bad for someone who was a veteranarian before the world went to hell.
Finishing in the bathroom, he entered his and Clementine's shared room. Grabbing his shirt from the bed and pulling it on, leaving his jacket on the coat-hook on the back of the bathroom door, he began making his way to the door leading out.
Passing out the food had been a lot more difficult than he originally thought. The first two he had given the Duck and Clementine, the third to Mark since he had been without the last couple of passings, the last he had given to Carley because she pulled an all nighter with watch duty.
Larry had been pissed, but in the end the choices were made and there was nothing anyone else could do about it. Lilly had given him a nod of appreciation, though he didn't really know if it was real or not.
Stopping to look about the room he shared with his charge, he found a few odds and ends he had managed to bring back for her scattered on her side. The picture of her folks laid on the bedside table along with the broken walkie-talkie she couldn't do away with.
He'd noticed lately that she wasn't wearing her favorite hat, when he asked her about it she had told him that it had gone missing days ago. Thinking that she may have just misplaced it somewhere on the property, he promised to help her find it when he had a chance.
Opening the door to the room, the fighter nearly ran right into Kenny who stood their with his hand raised, ready to knock. "Oh, hay man." he said stepping back as the younger man came out, closing the door behind him.
"Something wrong, Ken?" Jason asked a bit curious, "I know we ran out of rations earlier, sorry about-"
The fisherman waved him off, "It was a tough choice, but you took care of the kids in the end. That's what a real man does." he said with praise. "I just came up here to talk with you about a couple of things."
Leaning against the railing and looking over the motel, Jason nodded. "Shoot."
"The RV's almost fixed, all that work you and I have been pouring into it has done some good. Soon as we find a working carburetor and a new timing belt we can go." said Kenny. "And I was serious before about the offer for you and Clem to come with us. You've more than earned a ride with me and my family."
"Thanks man. With how things are going, we might need to pack up and go." said the fighter. He didn't want to leave this haven and expose Clementine to the dangers of being out in the open. But if they ran out of supplies and fresh water it would just mean another death sentence. "What else was on your mind?"
Kenny took a moment to think before leaning on the railing next to him, "You were right before. About me and Lilly fighting all the time, it's not good to have that kind of friction around here. But it's hard to come up with any good ideas when we're already divided like this. We need someone that just thinks of what's best for everyone and isn't afraid to stick their neck out to do what's right."
Jason snorted, "Good luck with that, Ken. Every choice made will have consequences, no matter your intentions. I can understand your point of view a lot of the time, but I can also tell where Lilly's coming from. One of the reasons why I don't pick a side most of the time."
The fisherman sighed, "You know, shit would be a lot easier if you were leader." the younger man gave him a weird look. "I'm serious. Ever since we met up at Hershel's farm you've had this way about you. You know how to fight the walkers, you can plan out an escape and a strategy on the fly, hell, you even make decisions that most folks would never consider. It's almost like you've had experience with all this before."
Feeling his stomach give a slight lurch that wasn't caused by hunger, the fighter did his best to shrug off the man's comment. "With things as tense as they are, I think attempting to throw me into the roll of leader would cause too much friction with some of us." he looked down at Lilly and Larry to prove his point.
"Besides, I'm young. Who would take someone like me seriously?"
"Most of the folks here would be behind you." the older man said honestly. "Christ, Kat and I, Duck, Carley, even Mark would all follow your lead if you decided to do something about it. And you know Clementine would be with you no matter what."
Jason leaned off the railing, hearing something like that was hard to swallow. It was already a full time job keeping a look out for Clementine, but taking responsibility for the whole group? "I just don't know." he said shaking his head.
Kenny patted his shoulder, "Just think about it, friend." Both men perked up when Katjaa called out to them, the front of her clothes covered in blood and looking a bit frantic.
Running down to the ground level, they approached the truck where the woman was looking at the man she had been trying to help with a solumn expression. "He didn't make it...did he?" asked Kenny already knowing the answer.
"He...lost too much blood." his wife admitted while facing them.
"God dammit!" Kenny muttered, "Getting sick of this shit!" he knocked a cluster of cans off a nearby table as he skulked off.
"Ken! Come back-" Jason stopped her from going after him.
"Let him cool off, Kat. It's been a pretty bad morning so far." the fighter said as the breeze around them started to kick up.
Katjaa sighed, "That man, I tried Jason. But he was never going to make it, he lost too much blood before you got him here and I couldn't stop the bleeding."
"You did your best, that's all that matters." said the younger man.
She looked over at Ben as he sat in one of the lawn chairs while the kids kept drawing. "What about him?" she wondered. Jason opened his mouth to speak when he heard the truck creak, something moving in the bed that reached out for the woman's back.
"KATJAA!" He grabbed her and shoved her out of the way as two pale hands grabbed his forearms. The dead man was hissing and growling in his face, snapping his teeth in an attempt to get at his neck.
The fighter gritted his teeth, smashing the walker's head into the side of the truck repeatedly while at the same time keeping it from getting any closer. The commotion had grabbed the attention of everyone else and they all came running as Jason managed to throw the walker out of the truck and on to the blacktop, holding it down as he kept it at bay.
Jason pulled the walker up and smashed the back of its head into the asphalt with a loud crunch, reaching out and grabbing a nearby brick and bringing it to bare before bashing it into the corpse's forehead repeatedly. Blood and grey matter splattering in all directions, some drops landing on his face as he hammered away.
It was only when the walker stopped twitching was when he stopped, throwing the blood coated brick aside and standing upright. Wiping the blood from his face as he looked at Katjaa while she was being held by Kenny and Duck. "You okay?" he asked and getting a nod in return.
"Why'd ya bring him here in the first place, asshole?!' Larry demanded as they all gathered round. "You're gonna get us all KILLED!"
"He wasn't fucking bitten when I brought him here!" Jason shouted back, "If he was I would have dealt with it then and there and not put everyone at risk!" He had a feeling he knew what it was, and if he was right...then it was possible that a few other things about this world was possible as well.
"It's not the bite..." Everyone turned to look at Ben who was looking at the ground. "It's not the bite that turns you. You come back no matter how you die. If you don't destroy the brain, that's just what happens. It's gonna happen to ALL of us."
A chilled silence when through the whole group.
"That's why it spread so quickly." Jason said looking at the downed walker. "It's not the biting, though it must make the situation worse. This shit is in the air...and we're all infected with it." he looked at Ben, "You've seen this before, haven't you?"
The teen nodded, "Y-Yeah. Back when we were all hiding out in a gym at the time and everybody thought we were finally safe. One of the girls, Jenny Pitcher, I guess she couldn't take it and took some pills, a lot of them. Someone went in the girls' room the next morning and..." he trailed off not wanting to remember.
"Jesus..." muttered Kenny. The rest of the group all began to think hard about this new revelation, Jason in particular as he realized that if you came back no matter what happened to you, then that meant that HE was infected now as well when he was transported to this world.
"Need to stay focused, I knew that this was a possibility for some time now." he thought to himself. "We really need to get our hands on supplies...or bail the fuck out of here or things will be getting a lot worse very soon."
"BACK OFF!" Carley suddenly shouted, pointing her weapon outside the property making everyone jump into action. Looking over their fence and seeing two men pause in the middle of the road outside.
"Woah, lady, relax!" the taller of the two said holding up his free hand, the other holding an empty gas can. "We...we just want to know if ya'll can help us out."
"I said back off!" the reporter demanded not wanting anymore trouble for them.
Jason walked up to the fence and looked at the men, they looked harmless with no weapons on them as far as he could see. "You armed? We don't want any trouble here." he said loud enough for them to hear.
"Of course. Neither do we." said the taller man. "I'm Andy St. John, and this here's my brother Dan. We're just out looking for gasoline. Looks like you folks go the motel locked down, which is fine, but if you could spare any gas we'd be much obliged."
"Why do you need the gas?" asked Lilly.
Dan was the one that spoke up, "Our place is protected by an electric fence. Generators provide the electricity...the generators run on gas."
"Look, we own a dairy farm a few miles up the road. If ya'll be willing to lower your guns, we can talk about some kind of trade." said Andy.
"How are ya'll doin' on food? We got plenty at the dairy." asked Dan making everyone within the motor inn look to one another. Lilly looked at Jason who looked right back with serious expression, he knew what she was going to ask. Their options were very limited, and any chance they had at finding their group what they needed took priority. And they had more than enough spare gas to broker such a deal with these guys if they were honest.
"Mark, Carley and I'll will go check the place out, see if it's legit. If it's as clear as they say that it is then we'll send someone back to let you all know." he said before turning to their guests. "You've got a deal, we'll bring SOME gas to your farm. And in exchange you give us some food to bring back to our people. If all goes well, we can figure out something more."
Andy nodded, "Sounds fair. A couple of gallons should power one of our generators for a while." The fighter nodded as he turned to Clementine who had come up to stand by him.
"We won't be gone long, stay here and keep an eye out for me, okay?" he asked.
"Okay. Please, be careful." his charge said in return a little worried for him before he and the others got ready to head out.
None of them noticing the figure watching them from the treeline on the hill several meters from the motor inn's entrance. Slowly slipping into the foliage unseen as they went about their plan completely unaware.
A/N: Bit of a cliffhanger, and a lot of my fellow gamers out there know what's coming and are wondering what's going to happen next considering what's coming. But to those that haven't, I won't spoil the story. So stick around, things are going to get pretty tense very soon and none of you are gonna wanna miss it.
Drop your reviews, and I'll drop the update...you know the exchange.