The rain hammered down from the sky as we approached the farm. It was spooky, calm in a way that looked like a scene from an old horror movie. I missed watching those.
"I hear something in the barn," I whispered to Carley. I don't know why I whispered, but I guess it was something to do with the horrible feeling I had in my stomach.
"You go look there, I'll take the house," Carley commanded.
I nodded my head and, holding my screwdriver tight in my hands, crept up to the barn.
Bang.
I rushed into the barn in a fit of panic, finding Lee and a man fighting each other. The man had a gun aimed at Lee. He was going to kill him.
Before my thoughts could process anything, I'd picked up a farming tool and buried it deep into the attacker's shoulder. The man cried out in pain as I hit him for the second time, making him stumble backwards and trap his leg in an animal trap that was a bit smaller than the one back in the woods that got an innocent man killed.
Lee got up from the floor, giving Kenny a disappointed look as he emerged from one of the stalls. Kenny's face was full of guilt as he averted his eyes from Lee to me.
"Noooo!" Kat called in the distance. Kenny darted out of the barn without any words, leaving Lee and I to deal with the man.
Lee picked up another tool, pointing it at the man.
"You see? You understand now, don't ya?" The man began. "You can have me! It's how the world works now, give part of yourself so others can live!"
"What's he talking about?" I asked.
"Mark never volunteered to be food!"
My heart skipped a beat. Mark? Food? Fuck, the farmers were cannibals?!
"You gotta keep me alive! If you kill me, the meat gets tainted! You can't eat it."
"You're already tainted," Lee spat.
"You ain't gonna kill me, just like you didn't kill Jolene. You don't have what it takes, fucking coward!"
Something snapped inside Lee. That's the only way I could describe it. Lee's face was full of anger as he plummeted the tool into the cannibal's chest, leaving him dead.
"Nooo!" A little voice cried.
I hadn't noticed Clementine's presence before then. I gently placed an arm around her shoulders, protecting her from what she'd witnessed. Lee just stared at the body of the man, as if taking in what he'd just done. He turned to look at Clem, who was partially hidden behind me.
"God, no!"
"Katjaa," Lee gasped.
"I've got Clem. Carley went to the house, you have to go quickly!" I said.
Lee nodded and ran off, leaving Clem and I safe in the barn.
I crouched down so I was closer to her height and spoke carefully. "What happened?"
"They... they hurt Mark! Lee stopped me from eating the food."
"I'm so sorry," I said to the young girl, wrapping my arms around her into a hug. "Let's get out of this barn."
Clem and I went outside into the rain, my hand holding onto hers in fear of another attacker hurting anyone in the group, especially one of the kids.
"Lee will be okay," I told Clementine who was shivering.
She didn't respond.
My attention drifted to some noise, and I noticed a commotion outside of the house not far from where we stood. I saw a tall figure holding a smaller one like a hostage. Duck!
I ran with Clementine to the man who held Duck captive, while Kenny was begging for his son not to be hurt. There was a gun pointed at the young boy's head.
Kenny stepped closer. Bang!
Kat ran forward to Kenny who lay on the floor and Lee began taking steps nearer to Duck.
"Who the fuck do you people think you are? Look what you've done!"
The gun was dangerously close to Duck's head. I released Clementine's hand and charged, punching the guy in the face so he fell to the side and Duck could run.
Carley fired the gun, the bullet hitting the man's ear. I backed up quickly, going to Clem and Duck and protecting them while Lee pounced at the man. Everyone watched in fright as Lee was held close to the electric fence around the farm, until the fight turned around and Lee threw the man into the fence.
Lee picked up the gun and I held Clem and Duck, leading them away from the sight of what was going to happen. I didn't want them to see what Lee was going to do, they'd seen enough already. But Lee didn't shoot.
"Lee!" The man painfully called out as we walked.
"They're getting in!" Clem gasped, tugging on my hoodie and pointing to a group of walkers.
"Leeeee!"
"Let's go," Lee walked on and we all turned to follow, not listening to the man's cries behind us.
"Hey, Lee," Carley began as we walked through the woods. "Were they really killing people... for food?"
"Yeah," Lee replied.
"Wow."
"Clementine? Stay close," Lee changed the topic and the small child walked by his side.
Carley dropped back to be alone while I stayed behind Lee and Clem.
"Clementine... You should never kill anybody unless you absolutely have to, okay?"
Clem thought about it for a second. "Okay."
I smiled slightly at the relationship between them. Lee was fatherly towards her, protective and willing to risk anything as long as it ensured her safety.
Lee looked over his shoulder at me. "The same goes for you."
I nodded my head once, keeping up me walking pace until I heard a repetitive dinging sound nearby and a light caught my eye.
"What's that?" I asked.
With everyone interested, the group walked towards the light I could see and a car became visible. It had its doors open and I let my interest control my actions, walking forward to the car in silence.
"Marcey!" Lee whispered harshly.
"It's empty," I said, looking inside.
Everybody got closer to the abandoned vehicle and looked around.
"Oh crap," Kenny exclaimed, speaking more to Katjaa. "Baby, you gotta see this! There's a shit load of food and supplies back here."
"This food could save all of us," Kat smiled.
"Not all of us," Lilly said, staring.
It was then that I noticed we were missing Larry. I felt bad for not realising sooner, but everything was overwhelming and I was still processing the events that had taken place less than a half hour ago. I couldn't ask questions, so kept to my own imagination of what had happened to Larry.
I looked at all of the food and supplies. If we took it, we'd be well stocked and wouldn't need to venture out to find supplies for a while, but I knew it was wrong.
"We can't take this," I sighed.
"This stuff isn't ours," Clementine innocently pointed out.
"Dad, whose car is it?" Duck asked.
"Don't worry about that, Duck, it's ours now."
"It's abandoned, Ducky, don't worry," Kat reassured.
Clementine spoke up again. "What if it's not?"
Everyone turned to look at her.
"What if it's not abandoned? What if it is someone's?"
"Clementine and I don't want any part of this," Lee agreed with the little girl.
"Me neither," I decided.
Kenny looked at us with an astonished expression. "Suit yourselves."
Everybody began searching in the car at the supplies, smiles on everybody's faces except for mine and Lee's. Clementine had a small smile, hers because she was happy about not being the only one who didn't want to steal.
"I'm not watching these guys stealing this," I sighed, walking ahead and back onto the path, heading to the motel.
We ended up using the supplies taken from the car. I felt guilty about it, but that was how things worked. We had to survive, that was the most important thing.
I sat alone in one of the empty rooms of the motel, the place I'd lived for months. It was home for me.
There was a knock at the door. I picked up my screwdriver.
"Come in."
The door opened slowly, a white and blue jacket appearing in my view as Travis walked in, followed by Ben, who eyed the screwdriver in my hand nervously.
"Uh," he stuttered. "We brought you some food."
"Thanks," I said, taking the packet of chips he passed to me and observing it. I laughed once, the kind of laugh that is more just a sharp exhale of air with a smile. "I used to have these all the time as a kid. I would always sneak a few of them to the dog, too."
Ben and Travis looked at each other.
"You can sit down," I told them, opening the packet and inhaling the scent that brought back childhood memories.
Travis dropped himself to the floor, leaning against the wall while Ben awkwardly did the same.
"You had a dog?" Ben asked.
I nodded my head, my stomach feeling a bit twisted. "Her name was Sammi, had her since I was about..." I put my arm out to a low height. "This high."
"What, uh, what happened to her?"
I paused, wondering whether to go in telling my story or not. "The apocalypse."
Travis coughed uncomfortably. "Sorry about that."
"She was a good dog, defended me until the end," I sadly continued eating the food.
"I had a cat," he smiled.
"What was its name?" I was vaguely interested in knowing more about the two boys.
"Don't laugh," he pointed a finger at me and then Ben. "Petal."
I couldn't help but hide the giggle. "She must have been real cute."
"It was a boy."
Ben tried to keep his laughter in, but failed and was just making small chuckling sounds. Then the three of us were laughing.
"He was a good cat," Travis stated when the laughter had died out. "My dad said I was stupid for calling him that name but I liked it when I was six. He died three years ago, when I was fifteen but I've moved on."
"I had no pets," Ben shrugged. "My sister wanted a hamster but my parents said no to animals because they're messy and smell bad."
"So do kids but that didn't stop them having you," Travis replied.
Ben smiled for a few seconds before the smile faded a bit. "I miss them."
Our conversation stopped, the only sound in the room being Travis tapping his feet against the floor and me crumbling the empty packet from the food.
Travis sighed. "Way to kill the mood, Ben."
