A place to call home
Chapter 10: back to reality
Well based on the reviews for my last chapter, I think it's safe to say most of you are shocked to see it was all a dream the entire time. I bet we had you all going. Trust me, it was a lot harder to write it than to the read it. Speaking of which, here's the question for the day: which Walking Dead game did you like better? Season 1, season 2, or both? Me, personally, loved both of them. Telltale did a great job and added things that the show could have used. In the meantime, here's chapter 10.
When Clementine woke up in the morning, the first thing she noticed is that Kenny was gone. She looked around for a moment before climbing out of bed and heading downstairs. Only a few members of the group were awake right now (including Kenny).
"Morning." Clementine greeted whilst making her way down the stairs.
"Morning, Clementine!" everyone called, seeming to forget about the incident last night.
She decided to go see Kenny, who was leaning against one of the decorated railings with his arms crossed. He smiled warmly as she approached him.
"Hey Clem, you sleep okay?" he wanted to know.
"I slept okay, I guess." Clementine answered whilst rubbing her hand up her arm.
Kenny nodded, noting her of his approval. "Good. I'm going outside for a few minutes if you need me for anything, alright? I'll be just on the porch."
Clementine nodded, although she couldn't help but feel a little nervous. But this was a mainly clear area, so there was nothing to worry about.
For now, Clementine decided to go and sit with Luke, Carlos and Sarah who were all sitting together around the dining table, eat bowels of cereal that they found at the store. "Hey guys."
"Good morning, Clementine." Carlos greeted in a normal voice.
"Hi, Clem!" Sarah chirped as her younger friend sat down beside her.
"How are you feeling?" Luke wanted to know as he ate a spoonful of cereal.
("Not great.")
("I'm okay.")
("I'm not sure.")
("...")
"I'm doing okay, I guess." Clementine answered whilst she grabbed herself the cereal box, the milk and an empty bowl. "I'm sorry for waking you all up last night." she apologized whilst pouring cereal into her bowl.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Luke reassured her with a smile. "We can't control our dreams. I was havin' a hard time sleeping anyway."
"Why's that?" Clementine inquired before taking a bite out of her breakfast. She never thought Luke would be one to have trouble sleeping, especially on this comfortable ski lodge.
"I don't really know, just...I guess I was just overthinking."
Clementine looked a little confused, but decided not to question it if some of the thoughts were personal. Clementine ate her breakfast in silence with her friends. It was nice to have a proper breakfast for once. It felt like things were normal again.
Sarah looked up from her bowl of cereal and turned out the window, and gasped excitedly when she saw something. "Dad, look! It's snowing!" she exclaimed cheerfully.
"It looks beautiful, Sarah." Carlos replied as he placed his spoon down after he was done.
("It is Christmas time.")
("I like snow.")
("It's not that great.")
("...")
"I know we're in December, so here's to a Merry Christmas." Clementine announced with a cup of water raised in the air.
"Merry Christmas!" Luke announced, raising his own cup. Carlos and Sarah raised their cups as well, and the four of them clinked cups.
(?) They will remember that.
"It really feels like it!" Sarah cried. "The tree is soooo pretty!"
"You and Sarita did a great job decorating the place." Clementine praised, but she too felt happy again to be celebrating a holiday.
"Yes, good job, Sarah." Carlos agreed and smiled towards his daughter.
Sarah opened her mouth to reply when the front door practically slammed shut. Kenny walked up and sat on the other side of Clementine, nodding towards Luke, Carlos, and Sarah.
"Gonna freeze my ass off if I stay any longer," he nearly muttered.
"Are you okay?" Carlos inquired in a somewhat friendly tone.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," Kenny replied with a wave of his hand. "I'm just hopin' we won't have to work on that wind turbine again anytime soon."
"As long as we keep our eye on it, we'll be okay." Carlos assured before he got up from the table to go and use the bathroom. "Stay with the others, sweetie."
Sarah nodded and cleared her area of the table.
"So...anything we need to do today?" Luke inquired. "We're still stayin' a few weeks, right?"
("We could go on a supply run.")
("We could just stay.")
("We could build a fence.")
("...")
Clementine had an idea on her mind that she got from visiting the St. John's farm. "Walter, I take it you don't have a generator and barb wire do you?"
"I'm sorry, Clementine, but we don't," Walter shrugged, looking a bit apologetic. "What makes you say that?"
"Me and Kenny knew these people...They were bad..." Clementine closed her eyes and thought back to Mark being legless and Larry having his head crushed in. "But they were smart, they used wire and a generator to make an electric fence and keep their home safe."
(?) Kenny remembers that.
Kenny knew exactly what Clem was talking about, and had a nearly murderous look on his face. "Smart, but fucked up in the head," he growled.
"I said don't move, asshole!" Andy St. John ordered, holding his rifle to the back of Duck's head, threatening to shoot him unless Kenny remained where he was.
"Don't you fucking hurt him!" Kenny warned, anger boiling up inside of him. The second his son was safe, he was going to make Andy pay for what he did. "Let him go, God dammit!"
At that moment, Lee appeared out of the house with Katjaa following closely. The two watched in shock as Andy still kept his rifle pressed up against Duck, who was beginning to whimper in fear. Andy clearly had no quarrels with hurting a child.
"That ain't gonna happen!" Andy refused, taking a couple of more steps towards the man from Florida.
"Andy, don't!" Lee suggested.
"SHUT UP!" Andy responded immediately, aiming his rifle towards Lee that caused him to raise his hands in the air.
Taking this opportunity when Andy was close enough and no longer paying attention to him, Kenny quickly lunged forward in an attempt to save his son. He almost got to him, but he was not fast enough and Andy had pulled the trigger, shooting Kenny in the lower part of his stomach to the right. Katjaa screamed and quickly ran towards her injured husband to help him.
"DAAAD!" Duck cried out.
Seeing his injured best friend and the scared child at gunpoint, Lee slowly began to approach Andy, ignoring the risk of being shot, but he kept his hands raised in the air nevertheless. "Andy!"
"Who the fuck do you people think you are? Look what you've done!" Andy told them, but what he said clearly made no sense. How was this their fault? Andy and his family were the ones who kidnapped people and ate them.
"Calm down." Lee replied.
"Calm down?" Andy repeated, obviously not taking Lee's suggestion into consideration. "What for, huh? All we wanted was some goddamn gasoline!"
Before he could respond further, a gunshot echoed through the air and Andy was shot directly in his ear by Carley that caused him to let go of Duck who quickly ran away. Lee quickly took his chance to attack whilst Andy was stunned and grabbed onto his rifle, causing it to fire in the process. Both men wrestled over the gun for a short while until Lee was able to knock the gun against Andy's mouth that caused him to stumble back, taking Lee down with him. Both of them slid down the mud hill, breaking the wooden fence in the process.
As Lee tried to recover, Andy got up and kicked Lee in the face, sending him back down for a second time. Preparing to finish him, Andy turned on the generator to the electric fence and grabbed Lee by his hair, dragging him towards the fence. "Get up. Get the fuck up!"
Lee attempted to punch him a couple of times, but it did no good and he was placed by the fence on his knees. Andy held both of Lee's arms behind his back using one arm whilst he used his other hand to push his face towards the electric fence. Lee struggled and desperately attempted to get free, his face was only a couple of inches away from being shocked. Who knows how much volts that thing contained?"
When all hope seemed lost at this point, Lee looked towards the barn nearby where Lilly and Clementine emerged outside, Lilly holding Danny St. John's rifle. "Lilly!" Lee cried out to help before he met his end.
Lilly did not hesitate to aim and fired a single round towards Andy, sitting him in the shoulder that caused him to release Lee and collapse onto his back. Now that he was down, Lee got down on his knees, pinning Andy down and began to unleash his fury against him for everything he had done. It was because of them that Mark died and reanimated into a walker, it was because of them Larry died despite the fact he was a jerk to Lee, and it was because of them Kenny was shot. Lee continued to repeat the same tactic over and over again: punching him once with his left hand, and then his right hand.
As the rain poured down and the storm echoed throughout the night, the remaining members of the motor inn group all gathered around near the exit to the farm, watching as Lee continued to furiously beat Andy into submission. Lee was beginning to get exhausted and was getting carried away, but he did not stop yet. He yelled out his anger and punch Andy a few more times.
Carley approached Lee to stop him from beating Andy down further. It was over now, regardless of if they lived or died. "Lee, that's enough." it actually caused to stop and stand back up, taking a few breaths. "He's had enough."
The two walked away together back towards their group, but Lee stopped halfway when Andy called out to him. Despite the fact he was shot twice and had been beaten down hard that left his face swollen and his teeth missing, he was not done yet. "Is that all ya got, Lee?...You ain't shit!"
"It's over!" Lee shouted.
"Fuck you." Andy scoffed whilst he struggled to get back to his feet. "As soon as Dan and Mama get out here you're all fucked!"
"They're both dead." Lee informed him, but that was not the full truth. Danny was trapped in the barn in a bear trap and Brenda would more than likely turn into a walker now.
"...What did you do? WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?!" Andy demanded to know, but all Lee did was turn around and walk away. Andy pointed his finger towards him and demanded him to come back. "Don't you DARE walk away from me, Lee!" he fell to his knees. "Get back here and finish this, Lee!"
Lee froze in his steps for a moment and turned back towards Andy for a few seconds and then turning back towards his group. At first, Lee considered finishing him off, but he decided to let him live because life was going to be more painful to him now then death. Lee turned away and walked towards his group.
"Get back here and fight me like a man, Lee!" Andy taunted him, but that was not going to work. He practically pleaded for him to come back and end this. "Lee!"
"They're getting in!" Clementine announced as she pointed a finger towards the walkers. The generator had burned out and the walkers were now free to walk inside.
"Leee!" Andy called out one last time.
"Let's go..." Lee told his group as he stepped out of the farm and led the group away to safety. Regardless of what happened now, Lee knew he made the right decision and Clementine agreed with him. The St. Johns was finished.
Clementine could not really blame Kenny for saying this, especially after when the St. Johns had kidnapped his family. Andy was about to shoot Duck if Kenny came any closer, but Kenny took a bullet to the lower side of his stomach to save him. He was a great father.
Sarah looked confused for a moment, but didn't say anything.
"Were they bandits?" Luke wanted to know.
(Announce to Luke and Sarah)
(Whisper to Luke)
Clementine did not want Sarah to hear this and decided to whisper to instead. She leaned forward next to Luke and whispered into his ear. "They were...Cannibals. They cut off our friends legs and tried to feed them to us."
(?) Luke will remember that.
Luke raised his eyebrows and looked a little sick. "You ain't kidding? Man, this whole thing has messed some people up more severely than others."
Clementine nodded in agreement, she could never help but cringe when she thought about the St. Johns. After finishing her breakfast, she cleared her area and decided to sit in the living room.
Since she was on her own for a while, Clementine decided to think back to her dream last night. It felt real, too real. Part of herself wanted it to be real. She wanted Lee to be with her so badly that it must have created a dream where she could be with him again.
Clementine sighed and placed her hands together whilst sitting in the armchair. It was not long until Nick had come downstairs and Clementine decided to greet him as he went past. "Hey Nick."
Nick looked cautious for a moment, probably remembering last night, but he gave Clem a smile in return. "Hey, Clem. You, uh, doing alright?" He was always really awkward when he was concerned about someone.
Clementine understood if he felt a little nervous. Ben was the same. Nevertheless, she decided to answer. "I'm doing better, thanks."
"That's good," Nick nodded. Right now, you couldn't tell that he had a short temper. He decided to sit next to Clementine on the couch and looked out the window. "Luke and I used to go sledding every year when it snowed, when we were kids."
("How long have you guys known each other?")
("Was it fun?")
("I wanted to go sledding.")
("...")
"How long have you guys known each other?" Clementine inquired. The only thing she knew is that they went into business with one another that failed, but other than that, they had fun working together.
"About twenty years," Nick responded, which surprised Clementine. "My parents and I moved so we could live closer to Uncle Pete, and I met Luke on the first day of school. Never really had many friends before I met him." He couldn't help but smile.
"It must have been good to have a best friend for twenty years." Clementine replied with a small smile across her face. She never had a best friend when she was younger, but she did have a few friends in school.
"Hmm, yeah, it's nice. Luke and I were roomin' together when this all started."
"You mentioned you guys, started a business, right?" Clementine asked, deciding to make conversation for a while. "What kind of business was it?"
Nick let out a half-hearted laugh. "We started a pawn shop business in the shittiest part of town," he explained. "We were actually rollin' in dough for a while, but that wore off quicker than we liked. Like I said, we were flat broke after six months."
"You tellin' her embarrassing stories, Nick?" Luke accused playfully as he walked up to them.
("Sorry, Luke.")
("I asked.")
("It's not that embarrassing?")
("...")
"I just wanted to know." Clementine replied whilst Luke took a seat on the couch with Nick. "I didn't really know much about you guys. I hope you don't mind."
"Nah, it's fine," Luke waved his hand. He sat in the armchair and looked out the window. "God, I hope Kenny doesn't change his mind. Rebecca and the baby are in no condition to travel in this weather."
("Kenny won't.")
("Then don't annoy him.")
("Why would Kenny change his mind.")
("...")
"Kenny won't." Clementine reassured, turning towards the said man who was still sitting at the cafeteria table. "We'll be here for a while. When the snow and the cold begin to pass, all of us can move up to Wellington."
(?) Luke agrees with that plan.
"That sounds like a good idea," Luke nodded in agreement.
Nick only scoffed and rolled his eyes. No way a "safe place" like that could be real, in his opinion. He and Kenny were too much alike, and that seemed to be a bit of a problem.
("Can we ever go back to being normal?")
("We can never go back to being normal.")
("I wish things were normal again.")
("...")
"I wish things were normal again." Clementine wished , her hope for humanity becoming normal again still never went. "I remember when I was little and I had a family...My parents, Diana and Ed...My mom was a doctor and my dad was an engineer. I loved them so much and they loved me. They were the best parents I could ever ask for. I'd give anything to see them...And Lee one more time."
"I bet they were great people, Clem," Luke said sympathetically. "That wouldn't surprise me in the least, because you turned out great too."
Clementine looked over at him and smiled in thanks.
Clementine took off her hat and a second time and held it into her hands. She cherished this hate so much and would be lost without it. "This was my dad's hat. He gave it to me just before all this began. And my friend Lee, it has his blood on it, too..." she closed her eyes and struggled to hold back tears. "It's all I have left to remember them by."
(?) Luke and Nick will remember that.
Nick didn't know what to say since he was awful at comforting people, so he turned towards Luke to see if he would take over. Clementine took a deep breath, she didn't need to cry in front of these guys for a second time.
"Clem..." Luke trailed off.
Clementine turned towards the older man as she placed her hat back onto her head.
"We've all been through some rough times, hell, some of us are still going through 'em. Lee and your parents...they wouldn't want you to be sad. They would all be so proud of you for holding on this long. And they'd want you to continue on."
"I know." Clementine nodded, but that did not mean she did not have to miss them.
Clementine placed her hands on her knees and decided to watch the fire a bit. She somewhat wished that she'd had a fireplace in her house, as her family would have to hang their stockings near the door at Christmas, but it wasn't like it mattered anymore. Still, it was nice to pretend that things were normal for a change.
And we're back to reality, folks. The group are all still here in one piece and everything is going great for them so far. Let us they can remain safe for the winter that is set to come. Keep tuned for the next chapter that will be here tomorrow. What time depends on where you're from.
