Episode 2: Starved For Help, Part 2
Alexander's POV
"Guess What This is" Clementine Asked Holding up her Paper.
"I Don't Know a Boat" The Boy Guessed Not Really Caring.
"Ooh! I Know! A Plane, Right!?" Duck Exclaimed. Clementine Frowned
"No! Alex?"
"A Dolphin" I Said. Clementine Smiled and Clap "Hooray!"
"Aw Man..." Duck said glumly before Continuing his Drawing Along Clementine as Silence Formed Between Me and the Boy as We Took Glances, Looks and Stares At Each Other. I Was So Curious About this Boy, Something About Him Just Made Me Attracted to Him, I Mean He Was Good-Looking and Tall But I Barely Even Know the Dude. What If He Was Dangerous, Already Fancied Someone or Already Has a Girl Friend. Plus I Didn't Even Know what to say to him, He Seemed Really Depressed and Stressed, I hope he was Okay...
"They Don't Want Me here, I Should Just Leave..." The Boy Finally Spoke Up But He Seemed to be talking to himself. I Looked up at Him as He Laid his Eyes on me.
"We Barely Even Know You, I am 99 Percent Sure We Will Keep You" I reassured. Relief Came Over Me as I Saw Him Almost Pull a Smile.
"T-Thanks, Uh...Uh...I-I-I'm Ben, Ben Paul" He Introduced. I Smiled.
"Alexander, Alexander Crawfton but Alex for Short" I Answered Back. He nodded.
"Rough Day, Huh?" He said Making Conversation. I Pursed my lips, Nodding.
"Yeah, Everyday But Were Safe Here Until Eventually we Leave Here" I said looking down.
"Why? Why Not Stay? No Walkers Are Around" Ben Asked Curious.
"We Can't Just Stay Here Forever and Live Like One Simple Family, We All Have Individual Lives, And We need to Move on, It's best for the Kids" I Answered.
"Right..." There was the Awkward Silence Again. I sighed. "Alexander That's a Pretty Cool Name"
"Thanks Ben, Yours Not Bad Either" I said Back.
"I Guess, So...You Seem Young, 16?" Ben Asked. I Shook my Head.
"I Turned 17 three months ago During the Apocalypse" I Confessed, Looking Down.
"Me Too" Ben Said. I Smiled Up at Him. "I Guess You had to Leave Your Boyfriend and Others Behind, Huh?" I sighed Thinking About Kevin
"I Broke Up With my Boyfriend Right Before the Apocalypse, He was a Total Douche bag, Dick and Man Whore" I said in bitter. Ben Smirked at that.
"Well He's a Total Jerk For Losing a Pretty Girl Like You, You Seem Cool" Ben Said. I Blushed and Widened my Eyes At What What Happening, Was He Flirtin' With Me? Oh Please Don't Be Crazy, He's Totally Not Interested in a Tomboy Like Me, He Was Probably Being Nice...
"So, Is Your Girlfriend Alive or Did You Lose her?" I asked. He sighed.
"No Girl Friend, I'm Actually In a Band With my Friend...Never Mind" Ben said shaking his head.
"Well If You Need Anything, I'm Here For Ya" I reassured. He nodded going back to his depressed state.
"Maybe I Can Tag Along With You and Your Sister Over Here and Brother, Since I'm the New Kid On the Block and Some People Seem to be Un Welcoming.." Ben asked. I nodded
"Of Course Anything For a New Recruit" I smiled at him as He smiled back, But My Smiled then Dropped When I Looked over at His Friend as Kat was Fixing him up "I'm Sorry about your Friend, I Hope He'll Make it" Ben Looked behind him and Quickly turned and looked down
"I Feel...Helpless, I Feel Like I've Could've Done Something But..."
"Didn't? It Happens Ben, Nobody's Perfect..." I said. He nodded.
"So What's up With Your Dad Whose handing out the Food?" Ben asked Glancing Back at Lee Who was Talking With Larry and Mark.
"First Off, He's Not My Dad, Me and Clementine Just Met Him and He Decided to Take Care of Us When we were Alone and We Seem to Trust him With Our Life Now" I explained "And Second, His Name's Lee."
"Well He Seems to Treat You like His Daughter, What about all these other Survivors, Are they Nice?" I nodded
"Yeah, Except For Larry He's Grumpy all the Time but He has a Heart and a Heart Condition So Don't Judge Him And He us Also the Father of Supposed Leader and Queen Bee Lilly Who You Met When You Came in here" I explained. He Raised his Eyebrows
"Yeah Wouldn't Forget her, She Scares the Crap out of Me" Ben said. I smirked. As We Sat Here, We slowly Started to get to Know Each Other Better and Became Comfortable Around Each Other, He was Like another Friend of Mine. We Shared Laughs and Life Stories Until It Was Cut When-
"Oh My God Lee!" I exclaimed Running over to the Scene.
"The Axe! Hurry!" Lee Called as He was getting Attacked by a Walker.
"Lee!" Clementine Called, I held onto her.
I Sighed in relief as Carley Shot the Walker Off of Lee...
"You Okay?" Carley asked bending Down to Lee.
"Yeah. Thanks"
"Why'd Ya Bring him here in the First Place, Asshole!?" Larry as Usual, Complained Annoyingly.
"Dad, Calm Down"
"You're Gonna Get Us ALL Killed!" Larry exclaimed at Lee. I Felt Ben Walk and Stand Beside Me.
"Why Didn't You Tell Us He was Bitten?" Kenny Asked angrily Walking up to Ben.
"What?"
"He was Bitten and you didn't say a goddamn word!" Kenny Gritted.
"But He Wasn't Bitten! I Swear!" Ben Corrected.
"Well Your 'Not-Bitten' Friend Here Came back to life and tried to kill my Wife!" Kenny exclaimed in Anger.
"What!? Wait Ya'll Don't Know?" Ben asked.
"What the Hell are you talking about?"
"It's Not the Bite that Does it" Ben explained. I Gave him a Look as Clementine Squeezed Harder on my Hand "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." Ben Finished. We all gave looks...
"Were All Infected? Everyone?" Lee asked in Shock
"I-I-I Guess So...I Don't All I know is that I've Seen people turn who I KNOW were never bitten" Ben said "When I First Saw it happened, We were all hiding out in a Gym and everybody thought we were finally safe. But one of the Girls, Jenny Pitcher, I think, I Guess She Couldn't Take it. She took some pills. A lot of them." I put my hand over my Mouth in Shock "Someone came in the Girl's Room the next morning and...God..." I Looked down, So Saddened to hear What I just heard...Damn...
"Back Off!" I Turned to See Outside the Gate, Two Men were Nearby
"Woah, lady, Relax! Me an My Brother, We...We just want to if ya'll can help us out" One of the Men Explained Holding up a Gas Tank
"I Said Back off!" Carley Yelled back still pointing the Gun at them.
"Carley.."
"Are You Armed?" Lee asked
"Yeah...For Protection...Dead Could be Anywhere" The other Guy in the Blue Shirt Responded.
"But Uh, I think you got the Upper Hand here" The Other Guy With the Gas Tank teased.
"Why Do You Need Gas?" Carley asked still pointing the Gun
"Our Place is Protected by an Electric Fence. Generators Provide the electricity..."The Guy in the Blue Shirt Responded.
"Our 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" The other Man With the Tank Suggested
"How Ya'll Doing on Food? We Got Plenty at the Diary" I looked eagerly at Lee. Man I Was Really Hungry and That Half Jerky Didn't Fulfill enough.
"Lee Why Don't you and Mark Check the Place out, See if it's Legit" Lilly ordered.
"I'm Going with you. I got your back if anything seems Fishy" Carley said.
"So Uh What are ya'll thinking?' The Guy with the Gas Tank asked. I looked at Lee For an Answer, Hoping We Can Go...
"You've got a Deal" Lee finally decided.
"We'll Bring SOME Gas to your dairy. In Exchange, You give us some Food to bring back. We'll See how it goes from there" Lee Explained
"Sounds Fair. A Couple of Gallons should power one of our Generators for awhile" The Guy with the Tank Said.
"Can I Come Lee, Please?" I pleaded Lee, Grabbing his Arm. He sighed and Shook his head.
"No, Sorry, I'm Only Bringing, Mark, Carley and Ben Along to just look around, You Stay here and Watch Clementine as Always..." Lee Ordered. I Crossed my Arms and huffed...
A Few Minutes Later...
Lee's POV...
Man I Felt a Little Bad Not Letting Alex Come With Us, But I Promised Myself Me Before those Girls, Meaning Keeping Alex and Clementine Away From Danger...But Promising The Group I Was Gonna Check out the Place Before I Fully Let the Rest of the Group Attend, I Now Had With Me, Mark, Ben and...Carley Who seemed to have a Spot For my Company...
"So, This Dairy...You Guys Really Have Food?" Mark Asked walking along with the Brothers.
"Sure Do, We've lost most of the Cattle, But We Still have lots of Milk, Butter and Cheese Stocked Up" The Man Who I Supposed was Andrew but Andy For Short Answered as We Walked along the Trail
"And With the Vegetables We Grow, We've Got plenty of Food" I heard the Guy in the Blue Shirt, Danny Said. I sighed as I Walked A Few Few Feet Away From Mark, Andy, Ben and Danny And Walked With Carley, Trailing Behind them...
"It's Nice to get away from that Motel for Awhile. This Lilly/Kenny thing is starting to get Ridiculous" Carley said from Beside, Making Conversation. "Personally, I'd be more Happier if you started to take Charge More." I Smirked But Frowned.
"You'd think they Want Me as a Leader?" I asked.
"Sure. Everybody Looks up to you" Carley Smiled.
"Well...Not Everyone think I'm Not So Trustworthy" I said.
"Because of your Past? Does Anyone Else Know?" Carley Asked.
"Larry Knows"
"Great, That Can't Be Easy"
"Clementine Might Know, Probably Alex But...I'm Not Sure...Clementine was there When We Were Talking in the Drug Store and asked me about it. Hope Fully, She Didn't tell Alex, I Really Don't Wanna Make them Think I'm a Killer or Monster..." I Explained. "I Lied to Clementine, But..."
"What Exactly Did happen with the Senator?"
"It Was an Accident...I Mean, I pretty much Knew about the Affair...Sometimes I wonder if I should talk to the Group about it..." I said as Guilt and Nervousness Ran through me. What Would Happen If I did tell them?
"You Don't Have to. Whatever Happened before things Went to Hell doesn't matter anymore" Carley said. I looked at her
"Not Sure Everyone Would See it that way" I said. Carley looked at me.
"Maybe your Right...Listen over the years, I've reported on some serious messed up shit. I've seen situations like yours a hundred times, it doesn't have to make you a bad man..." Carley said. I smile.
"I Really Appreciate that" I thanked.
"I Mean Thank Go, Lee Showed Up When He Did!" I Heard Mark. Mark then Turned to Us "Right Lee?"
"Yeah Why Don't you tell us a little more about yourself, Lee?" Andy said Stopping to Catch Up With Me, Danny Following.
"Where ya From?" Danny asked.
"Motor inn is now my home I guess" I answered.
"Hm. That Place seen better days, huh?"
"You Can Say that again" Carley said.
"Ya'll Seem pretty settled in at that Motor Inn. Who's running things over there?" Andy asked.
"We Work as a Group. All of us looking out for eachother" I repsonded
"I hear that! There are so many Dumbasses out there fighting eachother these days...It's Stupid" Andy said. Got that Right...
"How Many People you got over there anyway?" Danny asked.
"Enough to Defend ourselves" I Responded.
"Well that's Good, It's getting Dangerous out there, Well, You know. Well We'd love to get ya'll out to the Dairy. Like I Said, We've got plenty of Food, and quite frankly We Could Always use a helping hand" Andy Suggested.
"In Summers, I used to help out on a Goat Farm" Ben called out. I smiled at him, He seemed like such a Nice Guy...
"Yeah That's Great Everything Helps"
"Momma's been running the dairy for as long as I can remember but now it's gettin-" I turned to see Two People Far Away from us, Arguing on the side
"You think you're gonna cut me out of this?"
"Shit! Get Down!"
"No one is trying to cut you out of anything!"
"You and Gary Always Fuckin'-"
"Fuckin' Bandits!" Danny Muttered.
"Who?"
"Those look like the people who raided our Camp" Ben said
"Calm Down, Your Paranoia is pissing everyone off!"
"Who are they?" I asked.
"Shh. Fucking Assholes is who they are." Andy answered
"There's only two of them" Carley said
"Oh No Theres-"
"Yeah and you Know What, We ate it all! What are you gonna fucking do about it?"
"Don't Worry, Danny and I have ya Covered, If Something Bad Happens, But lets just wait this out and Hope they Move on" Andy Said Watching the Two 'Bandits'
"FUCK YOU!" One of them Exclaimed, Kicking the other Away before Shooting him. I heard Ben Gasped as The One Standing Continued to Shoot the Guy on the Ground...
"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU!" The One Shooting Exclaimed Angrily While Repeating to Shoot him as We Watched in Shock.
"Jesus!"
"Asshole..." The Man Said Back to the Life Less Body before walking off.
"The World out here has gone to shit. Come on, let's get to the Dairy Where It's Safe" Andy Ordered as we Got Up From our Spot and Continued on Walking. Man These People these Days...
A Few Minutes Later...
I Looked Around as We Reached out Destination, Man They Knew How To Live and I Couldn't Believe What I Was Seeing...
"Here it is, St. John's Family Farm" Andy Introduced As We Kept Walking Looking Around the Farm. "Ya'll Can See How We Kept this Place so Safe."
"The Fence Keeps them out?"
"You Betcha' They Fry like Bugs in a Zapper" Andy Responded "We're Pushing 4000 volts through that thing with Generators and Amps" Andy Explained as We Looked Around, Taking an Interest in this Place.
"I'm Going to Assume that's Alot..." I Bet If Doug Was Here, He Would Knew More...Poor Guy...
"Ever Had any Accidents?" I asked
"Nah"
"But it's Safer here than out there" Andy Added.
"This Place looks untouched! You Never know the rest of the world is in Ruins." Carley Added.
"It's Worth Protecting, Hence all the Juice" Andy said
"I Thought I Saw Ya'll With Company down the drive!" We Turned to See a Woman Walking up to us.
"Guys, This Is Our Mama" Andy Introduced the Lady Who also Held a Basket.
"I'm Brenda St. John and Welcome to the St. John Dairy!" The Woman Greeted.
"This Here's Lee. He's Been living down at that Old Motel Round the way" Andy said gesturing to me. I smiled
"They've got a few more friends stayin' at the old motel" Danny said
"Oh my Goodness, that place is pretty Vulnerable. Have you got someone with Survival experience to lead your group?" Brenda Asked
"We All Work Together. Plus We've got plenty of people with military experience" I Answered.
"Well that's good to hear. That Motel ain't the Safest Place" Brenda said. "Well Now that you are here. We'll Make Sure Your Safe and Comfortable"
"Does that offer reply to the rest of us?" I asked.
"We're All Incredibly Hungry" Carley said.
"These are for ya'll Baked Fresh from this Morning"Brenda said Bringing up her Basket of Biscuits
"Amazing!" Carley exclaimed
"Can't get Stuff like that Anymore, Not Without a Cow for milk or butter, That's for Sure" Danny said.
"That's Right. Hopefully Maybelle will make it through this bout of Whatever she's got and be with us for a good long while" Brenda said.
"Your Cow is Sick? What's She-"
"We have a Vet! We Could Bring her Here! We Can Help you Folks out." Mark blurted out. I gave him a look.
"A Vet! Oh my! Our Prayers have been Answered!" Brenda Exclaimed.
"Maybe Our WHOLE Group can Come..For the Day..." Mark Suggested. I narrowed my eyes at him.
"Well How about this. ya'll go get your Veterinary Friend, and I prepare some dinner. A Big Feast for all you hungry Souls?" Brenda suggested. "It'll be nice to have some folks to help out again. Danny, Why don't you come help me out in the Kitchen" Brenda Said before Her and Danny Walked Towards the House.
"Why Don't I head back with the food and Round Up for the Trip Back Here." Carley Suggested
"You Might wanna take someone with ya, Remember those Roads can be Dangerous" Andy Advised.
"I Can Handle Myself" Carley said back
"Take this." Mark said handing Carley his Shot Gun. "Why Don't You Go ahead and take Ben Along anyway" Mark Suggested. Carley Nodded before turning Back.
"Take Care of yourself Lee. See ya in a While" Carley said before Walking off With Ben Along...