BAM!
A flock of crows takes off in the distance at the sudden ear-jerking noise as Kenny holds the smoking gun in his hands; the barrel hot from the blast of a bullet shell running through it and out the other side.
Not having any time at all to react, the RV bandit starts choking on his own blood as it clots in his throat. A fresh bullet wound pierces through his skin as his esophagus is snapped in two and the air refuses to move up to his mouth and nose. Clutching at his throat in a vain attempt to stop the blood flow, the man collapses to his side as he falls off the RV and slowly loses the life in his eyes, which are covered by dark sunglasses.
Not even five seconds later, the whole group of people have climbed out of their holes (rooms) with a fire raging in their hearts and tight grips on their various weapons.
"John! Holy fucking… shit!" a close friend of the deceased man cries out, bending down in a vain attempt to wake him up. "Come on, man! Don't… don't do this shit! You promised we'd make it through this together, man!"
As a bandit with a red bandana wrapped around his head roughly smacks the grieving man over the head in order to move him out of the way, he then takes a pistol and plants a bullet into RV bandit's head. "Quit bein' a lil' bitch! Grow a pair, will ya?!" he roars, although he looks plenty peeved himself. "Where's this asshole?! Quit being a fuckin' pussy and show yerself!" The guy's eyes scan outside the gate for any sign of who may have shot him, and Kenny's heart nearly drops to his stomach as his gaze lands on him.
Almost immediately regretting the decision, Kenny widens his eyes as he turns to the side, but Omid's already taking off as a bullet whizzes past his head and hits the bark of a pine tree beside him.
"YOU GONNA WISH YOU AIN'T FUCKED WITH US!" one of the men roar as Kenny runs as fast as his sea legs can carry him; hopping over a small boulder as he notices Omid staring in shock at the bear trap they had found so long ago. Mr. Parker's severed limb is still attached, although it seems that most of it has been ripped apart by walkers.
"WE DON'T HAVE TIME! MOVE YOUR ASS!" Kenny exclaims in a hurry, yanking Omid's shirt collar as he practically throws the guy forwards. The bandits aren't far behind, having been hot on their trail as a couple of the trigger-happy fools noticed the two of them escaping on foot. It won't be long before they catch up, and Ken's not so sure that they're just going to shoot the two of them and be done with it. These bandits don't seem the type to just give people a swift death.
Deeper into the woods they run, scaring a few woodland creatures as they either scurry out of the way or retreat into their burrows. At least there aren't any actual bears around here as far as either of them can really tell. Omid had a pretty shitty time with a bear taking his and Christa's food when they went camping a few years ago, and the experience left him pretty traumatized. Trying to scare away a grizzly bear with a stick isn't really that effective.
Although, in this situation, the guy would probably prefer having a whole entire army of grizzly bears than have to deal with these guys. At least bears don't have guns.
"Why didn't you tell me you were gonna shoot, jackass?!" Omid yells, widening his eyes as an arrow gets stuck in the tree close his knee. Good thing it wasn't a direct hit! Omid used to be quite the adventurer in his time, you know! "I thought we were scouting them out! What the hell happened to that plan?!"
"One less to deal with now, isn't it?" Kenny remarks, having a point despite Omid really not caring for the ridiculous amount of cardio he's had to do. The guy's a scrapper! Not a runner!
…just don't ask Christa her opinion on that. She'd probably give you a much different response to that statement.
Too busy running for his ever-loving life to come up with a witty comment, the Persian man resorts to mainly just focusing on getting back to the dairy. That's where they'll be able to find shelter, and the prospect of a nice, furbished roof over their heads and possibly a warm, cooked meal has got Omid wanting nothing more than to scurry on home back to his girlfriend. He wants to live long enough to see Omid Junior or Genevieve or whatever the hell Christa wants to call their unborn child. Honestly, if he makes it back there in one piece, the guy swears on his life that he'll let Christa name the kid whatever she damn well pleases.
But wait a minute… this plan won't work! Not with the bandits hot on their trail!
"We've gotta split, man!" Omid insists, expecting the dumbfounded look that Kenny's giving him.
"What?! No fucking way!"
"There's no choice, dude! We can't lead them back to the d- AGH! FUCK!" he gets cut off, clutching at his shoulder as an absolutely torturous pain sears in his upper area. On closer inspection, Omid starts freaking out when he sees that an arrow has pierced right through.
Turning around quickly, Kenny manages to shoot the crossbow-wielding prick right through the eyeball as the two of them hear the bandit's howling screams.
"Jesus Christ, Omid! I ain't leavin' you behind!" Kenny retorts, wincing as he looks at the incredibly painful scene. Blood's dripping down his shirt as a small amount of sweat starts to form on his forehead. He knows that's only going to get worse as his body will try to fight off this foreign feeling and entry wound. "Not like that! Just hang in there, man – I can get you to safety! I'll fucking spring you over my shoulder and carry you like a firefighter if that's what it takes!"
"Urgh… NO!" Omid demands, shaking his head as he fakes Kenny out and turns down a different path; leaving the fisherman stranded as he curses after him.
"Damn it, Omid! Get back here!"
"GO! I'll meet you there! Just… argh, shit… make sure Christa's alright! She's…" Omid trails off, figuring that it's best not to delay the information any longer. It was going to be a surprise if she and him felt like they could trust this group, but desperate times call for desperate measures. "Christa's pregnant! Make sure she's… safe!"
"Pregnant?!"
"PAUL! CHRIS! WHERE THE FUCK DID THOSE BASTARDS GO?!"
Gritting his teeth together, Kenny reluctantly does as the man bids – if the main swarm of bandits somehow manages to catch up to either of them, then it's game over. And if Omid's so intent on splitting up despite having a god damn arrow sticking out of his body, then there's really not a whole lot he can do about it. It seems that they both have families to look after at home now.
You'd better be alright, Kenny mulls to himself, worried that the guy's recklessness is going to get him killed out here. Not that he should really be talking at this point, but the same scenario applies.
Choosing to quietly sneak through the bushes back to the dairy instead of taking the visible dirt path, Kenny goes into stealth mode as he just barely avoids the wrath of the bandits.
He only hopes that his somewhat lucky streak will keep him going for at least a little bit longer.
Can't be much further now, Lilly surmises as her arms droop lazily at her sides, with her eyelids occasionally following the same pattern. Every step seems to drag on forever; every mile seems like it stretches on for miles and miles. By car, the Warner Robbins air force base wouldn't have even been a twenty minute drive from where they were all staying, but walking? It's been over two hours at least, as far as she can tell.
She only hopes that this place actually has what she's seeking out.
Truth be told, this trip isn't just for her to go out for a late afternoon stroll as the sun starts turning a dark shade of orange. Lilly wouldn't have come out here simply to take her mind off of things for a little while – that's certainly a part of it, but not the entire story. The stoic woman would never put willingly put herself at risk out in the open like this unless the pay-off was absolutely worth it. And if her hunch is correct, then it definitely will be.
The real question is how she's be able to carry all of the stuff by herself. If her Dad was around, then maybe he could've…
Stopping herself midway through, Lilly breathes deeply through her nose as she tries her best not to think about Larry any longer. He never really liked the idea of people worrying about him anyways, so she's trying her best to convince herself that he'd appreciate her attempt to just forget all about him.
It would definitely make Lee's lie all the more bearable to her, if nothing else.
Oh yes, she could see it in the man's eyes - Lee may have had a pretty good poker face when it came to lighter topics such as whether or not Clementine ate the last chocolate bar that they had, or the time that he managed to convince almost everyone that American history was the most interesting subject you could possibly imagine. But this? No, his game was all over the place, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Lee had told her that just to spare her feelings of what actually happened.
And you know what? For this time, and this time only, Lilly's alright with that. Hearing that her father died like a hero and not like some animal getting butchered for the hell of it left a much better taste in her mouth anyways.
But there's one other thing about Lee Everett that he definitely hasn't been truthful about. Not with anyone as far as Lilly's aware.
She likes to think that she could've figured it out herself, but her Dad had mentioned pretty early on that Lee was the same man who murdered a state senator a few months earlier, and that he was on his way to prison for committing the deed. The details are a little fuzzy with the context behind the whole ordeal, but one thing that really stood out to Lilly came after she did some investigating herself. Newspaper clips in the pharmacy really manage to do wonders, and she had quite a lot to dig up with him. She ended up finding out that Lee actually walked right into the police station and confessed his guilt right there, on the very same afternoon that he had done the crime. That was a pretty ballsy move, as far as Lilly's concerned.
Honestly, she wasn't really sure what to think of the man after reading that. Looks and first impressions can be deceiving after all, so she was weary of the commanding presence and demand for respect that he seemed to exude like hot air from a furnace when she first laid eyes on him. The guy's still an enigma in certain aspects – he's got his off days like everyone else. Some days he can be a miserable, little asshole and just tune out everyone around him, while others he's on top of his game and making sure that things are running smoothly within the group, and especially with his little protégé of sorts, Clementine.
Putting her thoughts on Mr. Everett at the back of her mind (which seems to be increasingly hard to do lately), Lilly marches her way up the last stretch of hill until she finally acquires the base within her sights. Just what she needed after this long haul, although the stragglers near the front of the gate don't bring her much hope for any survivors inside. They seem to be walkers from this distance, so Lilly decides to try a more sneaky approach as she plans the encounter in her head.
Time to get creative with these guys.
Opening the screen door as the hinges squeak, Lee steps out into the chilly night with his hands in his pockets. For once, it seems like it's gonna be a calm, quiet night. The walkers are dealt with, the guns are put away, and things aren't nearly as much of a mess as they were the other night. Of course, Kenny and Omid still haven't come back, and Lilly's out on her own, so there's still that to be concerned about.
But for once, Lee doesn't feel the need to bounce off the walls in anxiety. Sometimes you just need to chill.
Spotting Andy leaned up against the balcony, Lee stands nearby as he causes the guy to jump in surprise a little bit. He must've not heard him approach.
"Figured you'd be out here," Lee comments as Andy shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Yeah, well…" he trails off, looking distracted with other things on his mind, "it's just been an… interesting week, what with all of this stuff goin' on. Besides, it was getting a lil' crowded up in the house earlier, what with Christa pacing around and everything."
Lee can definitely agree to that – not only Christa, but nearly everyone in the house seems to be up in arms as to why Kenny and Omid haven't returned yet. None of them have been able to sleep – not even Clem, since the clever, little thing snuck out of bed earlier because she wanted to be awake for when they finally did return. Lee thinks that it's just that she wants to stay up as long as Duck gets to, but he didn't say anything. Besides, if her drooping eyes were any indication, Lee figures that she'll be out like a light soon enough anyhow.
"Hey, Lee? There's uh… there's somethin' else I've been meaning to talk to you about actually…"
Curious, Lee nods for him to continue while folding his hands together. They're alone, so now seems as good a time as any for this.
Rubbing a hand through his dark brown hair, Andy sighs deeply before going to tell Lee how it has to be. "Momma, Dan and I have been talking again, and…" he cuts himself off as Lee starts to piece the mystery together, "…we're gonna need y'all off the farm in a few days. Everyone needs to think of their loved ones first, you know? And I'm not so sure your group's gonna take too kindly to it, but we need to start thinking about our own survival," he points out, feeling that his argument is a valid one. "And with Maybelle gone, we ain't gonna be able to provide much in the way o' hospitality regardless. So you see?"
Although the timing of this is really crappy, since Lilly's headed out while Kenny and Omid still haven't gotten back yet, Lee understands the situation at hand. If he were in Andy's shoes, then he'd likely have done the same thing, and by the sound of it, the guy doesn't exactly want to do this sort of thing to them anyways.
"I feel you," Lee nods in understanding, "really, Andy – I do. We all appreciate the things you and your family have done for us, and I just hope that we'll be able to return the favor someday."
"No need," Andy declines as he shakes his head. "Y'all have more than helped out around the barn and such, so it's absolutely no trouble."
Lee nods appreciatively as he gives the man a firm handshake. At least there's somebody out here who hasn't turned out to be a complete asshole – that's the very last thing that they would ever want to deal with again. He could only imagine what the consequences might've been had they been lured into some kind of trap.
Promising to get the group out of here whenever the opportunity presents itself, Lee turns to leave Andy alone to his thoughts once more, but he's stopped just before he reaches the door into the house.
"There's something else I wanted mention… It's a bit of a proposal of sorts," he adds, knowing that this might not be something that the ex-history professor would even want to consider. "It's… it's about your friend, Mark."
Turning his head back around, Lee waits for Andy's idea as he nods for the go-ahead. This should be good…
Loosely tapping a few fingers against his thigh, the farm boy starts explaining himself as Lee listens with intent. "Look, man – we both know he ain't doing so good. Your veterinary friend told me 'bout what happened up in the room, and clearly somethin' snapped in him after we tried fixing him up. Maybe he should just stay here as a farm hand. You know, let him live off his days in peace. If the opportunity arises and he feels he's in good enough shape to go, then maybe we could send him on his way so he could just… just start over."
Deep down, Lee isn't too sure that Mark would like the idea of staying here while the rest of us take off, but he simply shrugs his shoulders in response. "It's not up to me, Andy. We'd have to ask Mark what he wants," he explains, getting the sense that that's not all he has to say. "So… was there anything else?"
Standing still for a brief moment, Andy's gaze lowers to the floor a tad as he gets ready for the even more difficult question.
"What about the girl?"
Knowing exactly who it is that he's referring to, Lee's hand subconsciously tightens into a fist as he frowns in disapproval. Clementine is the one boundary that nobody can cross, even if it's with the best intentions. He would never forgive himself if something were to happen to her… but he'll do it on his terms.
"I heard you mention the other day how you've never had to take care of a child before. But Momma has," he remarks, clearly not noticing Lee's body language as he tenses up. "Maybe she'd be safer 'round here, ya know? Certainly better than headin' out through the wilderness with nothin' but – "
"I've got it. Thanks."
Feeling a little miffed that he doesn't think he can handle the responsibility, Lee bites his tongue and prevents himself from blowing up as he politely declines. He can't separate from Clem, not now after what they've been through together. Besides, what would that say about him as a caregiver if he just handed the kid off to the first person who asked?
As long as he still draws breath, and isn't harmful to her in any way, Lee will never abandon Clementine.
"We'll be out in a couple of days," he reiterates as he quickly retreats back into the house; leaving Andy alone to his thoughts as he tries to figure out why the guy acted so defensively.
He was doing Lee a favor, wasn't he?
Christa doesn't think that she's ever felt this sick to her stomach in her entire life, and that's including the times that she actually did have the flu growing up. She's hunched over the sink and staring at her ghostly reflection in the mirror; loose strands of hair falling down over top of her face as she turns on the faucet and scoops up a bunch of water into her hands. Splashing herself with the cold liquid as she rubs all over her face, Christa suppresses the urge to gag once again.
Despite feeling like absolute death this evening, she hasn't actually thrown up once yet. That might be even worse in her case, though, as she can't even leave the bathroom right now without the fear of getting sick all over their nice, family home. It's disgusting, but she can't help it.
Omid… Omid…. Omid… That's all she's been able to think about for the past few hours or so. He and Kenny should have been back a long time ago, and thinking about all the possibilities is driving her up the wall. She wouldn't know what to do if he wasn't around anymore…
What if… what would happen if the baby were to come without him around?
Don't be ridiculous, she silently scolds herself, leaning back against the wall as she places the back of her hand across her forehead. You're not due for a while yet – just keep your composure. Everything will be fine.
"Christa? You alright in there?" Carley calls from outside as she knocks on the door. "You've been in the bathroom for a while now. Everything good?"
"…I'll live," Christa replies hoarsely, feeling more lightheaded than ever before as she caresses her temples. If this keeps up, then it's gonna be a long night for her indeed.
Out in the dining room, the air is thick with worry as Clementine, Katjaa and Duck all sit with anxious expressions on their faces, with Danny sitting there not really knowing what to do. Brenda's upstairs tending to Mark once again as Carley returns with an exhausted expression.
"How is she?" Katjaa questions, watching as the reporter slumps back into the chair while leaning her head back.
"Doesn't sound too good from the other side of the door," Carley rolls her eyes, feeling as though she can't do much if Christa won't even let her inside. "She claims it's just the nerves getting to her from Omid missing, but I'm starting to think she might have the flu. Could be a pretty crappy time to start getting something like that."
That answer doesn't exactly sit well with Katjaa, as she can recognize the signs that Christa's showing from personal experience, but fortunately for her sake, she decides to keep this info close to her chest. There are obviously some secrets that Christa means to keep to herself, and if anything, she herself should be the one to deliver the news.
Her boyfriend missing is probably just adding to the anxiety. Kat really can't blame her – she feels equally as concerned about Kenny.
"Mommy? When's Dad coming home?" Duck asks, still wearing Ben's letterman jacket as Lee suddenly walks into the dining room and takes a seat on the other side of Clementine. Looks like he's in a bit of a snit as well.
Appearing a little saddened herself since both of her parents are nowhere to be found, Clementine at least takes a little bit of comfort knowing that Lee's still here. Her Mom and Dad always told her not to talk to strangers, but this time she's pretty glad that she did – it possibly saved her life in that treehouse.
Clutching onto her son's hand as a means of support, Katjaa squeezes it a few times as she lightly brushes Duck's head. "I'm sure he's alright, sweetie. Don't worry – Daddy's going to pop in through that door any time now," she reassures him, even though she's not entirely sure if that's true or not. There could be any number of things that happened to them out there. "…did I ever tell you about the time when your father took me out on one of his fishing trips for the first time?"
The boy shakes his head, but Kat soon realizes that nobody else in the room is talking, and that they're all just listening in on what she has to say. It's a pretty amusing tale, so she really doesn't mind sharing a little bit of her past life.
Brenda, having come down the stairs, mentions to Danny that she's just going to talk to his brother for a little while, so she quietly walks out the front and tries not to interrupt the story.
"I must've been, oh… twenty-something at the time. We'd been dating for a little while beforehand."
"Dating? Gross!" Clementine comments, sticking her tongue out playfully as Duck giggles in agreement and the adults chuckle at the kid's playful antics.
Smirking as the conversation seems to be getting a bit lighter, Katjaa wraps an arm around her son's shoulders as she continues. "We were over on the east coast, a little ways off from Fort Lauderdale," she explains as her eyes glow up in remembrance. "Ken wanted to show me everything he knew – which end of the boat was which, where the best spots were to catch mackerel, how to adjust for the wind and sea currents, everything. He even had me drive the boat out there for the first time."
"Something tells me this didn't go so well," Carley remarks, laughing as Katjaa shakes her head slowly.
"Definitely not – I hadn't driven a boat before in my life, let alone something like this," she recalls, spreading her arms out wide to give them a sense of how big the thing was. "We got caught in between a whole bunch of rocks when I wasn't looking properly, and naturally… we capsized. The two of us fell overboard, and the hole in the bottom of it cost him upwards of ten grand to fix up," Katjaa states as a few of the adults widen their eyes in surprise. "He really didn't care though – we were in love. I'd never seen him so… so happy before. At least until Ducky here was born. Then it was just… bliss."
Feeling happy for the couple after hearing that heartwarming story, the room falls silent as the spirit is lifted up at least a little bit. It's always nice for them to reminisce on the good times in life, especially with all that's so very wrong in the world nowadays. The group needs to cherish the small moments of happiness that they can actually find out here.
Suddenly, their ears perk up to the screeching sound of a gate opening out in the front of the house.
Christa's the first one to go bursting out the door as the rest of them quickly file in behind; not bothering to push the chairs back in their haste. In all of their excitement and anticipation, Clem and Duck get stuck as they both try to move through the doorway at the same time, so it takes some gentle shoving from Lee for them to finally pop out like wine corks.
A shadowy figure stands there talking to Christa in the middle of the night, and not until they get closer do they realize that it's Kenny who's miraculously returned safe and sound.
But where's…?
Craning her neck and looking behind him as if her boyfriend might be acting all goofy while hiding behind Kenny's legs or something, Christa grows frantically impatient as she stares at Kenny with an intense gaze. "Where?!" she demands, not even needing to say more than that to get the point across.
Looking as if he just lost a newborn puppy, Kenny's deflated expression startles the woman as he tries to explain things as best he can. "…bandits attacked us – they came from the motor-inn," he breathes out, not saying how or why they started going on a rampage in the first place. "Omid didn't want them tracing us back to the dairy, so… he said we should split up."
As an unrelenting anger starts to fizzle within Christa's veins, her clenched fists start to shake violently as she hears the disturbing news. This is exactly the sort of shit that she didn't want to hear, and now that her nightmare is coming to fruition, she can't help but feel cheated; cheated out of having someone to share in this life with her.
Her teeth clench as Kenny's hollow, shocked eyes try to dodge her venomous gaze. He literally just dodged a bullet – he'd rather not have to come face to face with another one.
And if her anger is any indication, Christa definitely wouldn't miss.
"So you're telling me…" she seethes as her lid's about to boil over, "that you left Omid out in the fucking woods… with a whole group of fucking bandits chasing him?! You left Omid out there to DIE?!"
"Christa, it's not like that! I swear!" Kenny bravely attempts to dowse the flames, not wanting things to get violent in front of his son if he can help it. "We didn't have a choice! Believe me, I wanted to bring him back! But then he got shot with an arrow, and then things just started going to shit and – "
"WHAT?! Omid got SHOT?!"
"…and he took off before I could stop him! Christa, I'm telling you, that's what went down!" he tries one last time as the rest of the group slowly inch their way towards them. Why they didn't stop this from escalating further Kenny has no idea. "I don't know where he went off to, but I'm sure he's gonna be just –"
SLAP!
Leaving a large red mark on the right side of Kenny's cheek, Christa stops him mid-sentence as he pokes the man right in the chest. "If Omid dies out there," she threatens with hostility, "then you're next…"
With everyone too shocked to speak, the group decides that it'd be best just to let her walk off on her own for a little while, as long as it's still within the property. If she had pulled out a gun on him… nobody really knows what they'd end up doing. As if there wasn't enough violence already, now they have Christa threatening somebody's life, plus all the shit with the bandits out there!
As an owl hoots meticulously somewhere in the trees nearby, Kenny stands there under the light of the moon; wondering why the hell it is that everyone's getting on his ass lately. First with Lilly, then Lee, and now Christa? They might as well tie a sign around his neck that says "Kick Me" so that they can just get their anger out of the way right off the bat!
Wandering up to her husband after she's brought out of her daze, Katjaa tries her hand at a softer, kinder approach than the warm welcome he had just received.
"Not right now, hon…" Kenny closes his eyes; silently walking away as he gives Lee the stink-eye one last time. Heading into the barn, the group of survivors soon hear the sound of yelling, swearing and things getting tossed around angrily as they stand there not knowing what to do.
Carley, thankfully out of earshot of both Kat and Duck, scratches her head in disbelief as to what has just transpired. "What a fucking hell of a night…" she comments, with Clementine too tired and shocked even to call her out on the swearing.
And just when they thought that things couldn't get any worse if they had tried, the unthinkable happens.
It doesn't take long before a gunshot pierces the air and Brenda is left dying on the front porch; a bullet encapsulated in her forehead as everyone instantly freezes. The blood flows out of the bullet hole in her head like a volcano; her eyes lifeless and pulse quickly coming to a halt as Andy collapses to his knees and Danny screams his lungs out in rage and revenge.
Brenda, the woman who accepted a big group of strangers into her home, fed them and helped look after them without question… has just been murdered.
Lee springs into action as the group scrambles for cover; the howls and hearty chuckles of bandits frightening them as a group of eight or so appear from the bushes.
Andy doesn't move an inch as he cradles his mother's lifeless body in his lap.
This means war.
With his eyelids fluttering open and closed, Omid finds it increasingly difficult to move around on his own. The guy's been forced to keep on trekking through the forest in order to evade his pursuers, all the while taking so many twists and turns that he has absolutely no idea where he's ended up. There's occasionally been the odd trail sign here or there, but half the time he feels too woozy to read them and the ones that he can recognize are just telling him to watch out for sporting hunters.
Gee, you think?!
Tripping over an exposed tree root, Omid whines in pain as he accidentally bangs his left shoulder where the arrow is still firmly inserted. The intense feeling hasn't diminished very much since he left Kenny a while back – if anything, he seems to think that the arrow actually has gotten further implanted into his body as he's moved around. At this rate though, he'll more than likely become a snack for the walkers before he runs into any more of the thugs that he's been avoiding for so long now.
Deciding to suck it up and try to pull the stupid thing out for himself, Omid stifles his courage as he places one hand in an awkward position behind his back. Placing a firm grip around the weapon, he quickly breathes out through his mouth before getting ready to dislodge it.
One, two, three…
"AAAAAAAAGGGGGHHH!" he belts out, feeling himself nearly black out from the sheer amount of torture this is putting him through. He heard a disgusting, squishy sound when he tried to pull the thing upwards, so at least he got it some of the way out of his body.
But god damn does it hurt him…
Knowing that it's now or never, since there doesn't seem to be any trace of civilization for miles around, Omid tearfully grabs onto the arrow again; yanking upwards as his body contorts in sheer agony.
Forcing himself through the process, he finally manages to remove the arrow from his shoulder as he clutches it in his hand; feeling nauseous as he sees his own fresh blood dripping down the tip.
Hearing something creeping out between the trees, Omid has no strength left to move even if he wanted to. If this is a bandit or a walker or worse, then he's totally fucked. There's no way that he'll be able to escape this time around.
Rolling onto his uninjured side, Omid cranes his head forwards as he sees an older man with fingerless gloves, a dusty, beige jacket, a dirty complexion and a kind disposition on his features.
The guy's definitely homeless, as far as Omid can tell. He smells like a poor mix of cat piss and alcohol.
"Young feller, you look like you could use a lil' bit o' help," he remarks with crooked, yellowing teeth.
Something about the old man makes Omid want to trust him, so he tiredly nods but fortunately manages to stay awake as he's helped off the ground.
"Name's Chuck," he remarks as the old, homeless man wraps one of Omid's arms around his shoulders, "Charles, if you're fancy."