"…Momma?"
"ANDY!" Lee bellows from behind the limited amount of cover he can actually find. The stair railings aren't exactly great for blocking bullets, but it's a hell of a lot safer than where Andy is right now. "Damn it, man! Get over here!"
Clutching Brenda's still warm hand in between his fingers, the farm boy chokes out a shocked sob; as if he still refuses to believe that any of this is happening to his family right now. This was their home, their property… their family, and now it's all getting taken away. It's getting ransacked by a bunch of brainless assholes with a variety of weaponry.
And it was all this groups' fault for them being here!
"…fuck you, Lee…" Andy growls lowly, even though he knows that it wasn't directly anybody's fault. Those bandits have been on their case ever since this all began – most of them used to drive into town on the weekends with their big rigs, smoking up in the parking lot and chucking their beer cans at the barn to try and scare the animals. But all Andy wants right now is for someone to blame for his mother's death, and unfortunately for Lee, he happens to be directly within the guy's vicinity. "You… you people are fucking parasites! You wanted this, didn't you?! Come to take all our shit and leave us for dead, ain't that right?! YOU WORKIN' WITH 'EM NOW?!"
Knowing that the guy's going through an especially hard time, Lee tries a different approach in order to diffuse the situation, but struggles because sooner or later there's going to be two dead bodies lying on those front steps if Andy doesn't move out of the way. "She's gone, man – you've gotta let her go," he acknowledges, shooting off two rounds that hits one of the bandit in the leg as he moves back to safety. "Brenda would want you to live! She'd want the both of you to keep on going for your family! Please, Andy – you're going to get annihilated by bullet shells out there!"
As about three rounds go sailing over the man's head and smash the window to bits, Andy tearfully relents as he shuts his mother's eyes closed. Lee can barely register how uncaring the man seems about his own safety right now – it's like the big guy barely even heard the gunshots flying past him! Cringing as more bullet shells are popped into Brenda's lifeless corpse, Andy collapses with his back up against the supply box that they had kept out on the porch. Burying his face in his hands, Lee can hear the grieving man choking out a few stifled sobs as the professor tries to figure out what to do.
The last thing they need out in the heat of gunfire is flaring emotions, so Lee tries to keep his cool for the both of them. He's really going to need it at this point.
"Is there anything we can use in there?" Lee asks, poking his head out to search for Clementine. The last he had heard of her, the girl was running away with Carley, Katjaa and Duck, so they likely shouldn't be too far away from the house.
When Andy doesn't give him an answer, still far too in shock and grief, Lee spins around and looks inside himself as he lifts up the lid. Peering into the magic box, Lee unfortunately finds nothing more than a roll of duct tape, some leftover rope that Lee and Clementine used to repair the swing, and an old brick with some chips falling off the edges.
Better than nothing I guess, Lee sighs to himself, figuring that this'll make for possibly a sneak attack while one of the two men get the jump on yet another bandit. Lee's not sure exactly how many there are out there, but he's spotted at least five of them under the light of the moon. If the walkers don't come prowling after all of the racket they're making, then that'd be a total surprise.
Weighing the thing in his hand for a couple of seconds, Lee puts a finger to his lips as Andy looks up at him through bloodshot eyes. Man, he's really taking this hard…
"Come on out to play with Uncle Ryan!" one of the rednecks sneer cockily, letting the both of them know that somebody's creeping around the stairs. When the wooden steps creak under the weight, Lee knits his eyebrows in determination as he leans his arm back into a throwing position. With no bullets remaining, this is going to be his only chance at not getting the two of them killed in a heartbeat.
Hoping that his aim is as good as it was back in the drugstore, Lee sharply inhales as the bandana-wearing, backwards-capped man takes another step forward. Lurching his back a little bit, Lee chucks the brick square in the guy's face as Andy suddenly rushes forward and tackles the bastard to the ground; smashing through the wooden support beams as he starts feeding the guy left and right.
Quickly snatching up the man's gun, Lee darts over Brenda's body as Andy finally calms down after having vented out his anger a little bit. The bandit's face is all bruised, bloody and beaten, with a cracked jaw and a few missing teeth that he's spit onto the ground beside him.
Cracking his knuckles, Andy breathes heavily as he kicks the guy once more in the side, but not before a bullet rips through the air and implants itself right into the side of the bandit's neck. As he chokes on his own blood as he desperately tries to plug the bullet hole, Lee and Andy both gaze on over to Danny, whose eyes are cold and unforgiving at this point.
There's clearly only one thing on his mind as he pulls the slot back on the gun and prepares himself to fire again – sweet, sweet revenge.
"RYAN!" another man bellows, getting ready to kill Lee at a little further than point-blank range. However, like his fellow before him, the man gets gunned down with a round to the head.
But unlike before, this kill didn't come from Danny St. John.
"Mark?!" Lee remarks incredulously, looking up to the second level as the former pilot tiredly leans against the window. Despite being slightly irritated at the fact that he's somehow gotten himself out of the bed, the fact of the matter is that he would've been dead without the guy's help.
Giving Lee a joking salute, Mark, suddenly overcome with tiredness after having unattached himself from the drugs so quickly, feels himself drifting away as he collapses to the floor; hearing Lee yell out "shit!" before hitting his head on the hardwood.
"I ain't gonna leave my Daddy's farm in shambles," Andy proclaims darkly, still looking broken up as Brenda lays on the front steps. Lee's only half paying attention as he tries to wait and see if Mark will stand back up somehow. "But I need to get to Dan – he's not right in th' mind right now. I'm worried that he'll…"
"Go! I'll gather up everyone and meet you back at the house," Lee encourages as the gunfire pauses for a brief moment. Have the bandits retreated back into the woods?
The house is littered with bullet holes, almost seeming like an army of termites just swept through here and cleaned out the place. The fence has also been knocked down and the generator has been destroyed; fizzling with sparks every once in a while as they come dangerously close to the grass. The thing's too dangerous for anyone to come over there unless they know what they're doing around electricity, but if anything starts to burn… this place likely isn't going to be salvageable for much longer.
Deciding that it'd be best to look for Clem first before trying to check on Mark, Lee, with the bandit's rifle in hand, sprints across the field as he makes a beeline for the barn; opening up the doors as Kenny nearly chops him in half with a sickle by accident.
"Fucking Christ!" Lee pants as he falls to the seat of his pants, glancing as Kenny holds the weapon down at his side with widened eyes.
Tweet! Tweet-tweet!
Capturing an undead monster's attention as it slowly turns its head to the right over its shoulder, Lilly whistles shrilly as she casually waits for the thing to approach. Once you are able to judge what their movements and reactions are, walkers are almost the easiest things to take down in the world. At least you always know what one of these creatures is going to do once they spot a human – people are the real things that you have to be careful around.
People trick you, leave you for dead, win your heart and then shatter it into a thousand tiny pieces… walkers just want to eat you. They're pretty straight forward when it comes to that thing.
Now within five feet of her, Lilly strikes the beast in the head with the butt end of her rifle before stabbing it in the brain with the barrel of the weapon; careful not to pull the trigger as she releases it.
With almost mechanical movements, Lilly trudges forward, getting ready to take on the world as a group of five more walkers suddenly seem to notice her presence. Knowing that this is quite a lot to take on by herself, Lilly loosens up her shoulders, takes a deep breath, lifts up the gun and…
HONK! HONK! HONK!
"Nate, you fucking idiot! What the hell are you doing?!"
"Pssh! Quit pissin' your pants, kid!" comes the irritable response, eliciting a low chuckle out of the brash woman as the walkers turn their attention to wherever that noise was coming from. Fucking morons… "Better to have them all out in the open than have these fuckers sneak up on us inside, am I right? Besides, you're boring me with all your whiny bullshit about Miranda or whatever the hell her name was, so I'm just having myself a little fun! Come out to play, kiddies!"
"That doesn't even make any sense! You are COMPLETELY insane!"
Finding that the window of opportunity has suddenly gotten a little bit larger thanks to those two knuckleheads, Lilly jogs up to the front as quietly as she can while casually opening up the front door to Warner Robbins. There'd be absolutely nothing worse than getting mauled to death in an abandoned air force base, with nobody around to hear her scream for help as she gets slowly ripped apart by an undead horde.
Thankfully, the walkers out in the main lobby seem to be few and far between, with the majority of them banging mindlessly against the glass on the other side of the fort. It's pretty sketchy listening to their howls at night and in the dark, with the groaning and moaning echoing off the ceiling and causing the woman to have to constantly turn around every five seconds to make sure that she hasn't been followed.
The prize that she's come to collect shouldn't be too difficult for her to find – it's just getting to it that's going to be the problem. There's a big stash of weapons that they used to keep hidden at her work in case of emergencies, but it's all the way up on the second floor, and the stairwell is close to where all of those walkers are located.
Hearing some potshots being taken outside at the encroaching enemies, Lilly curses under her breath for those two being so stupid. Why they couldn't have tried this somewhere else, or at least acted like a bunch of buffoons on a different day she can't figure out for the life of her, but the distraction isn't too terrible, she supposes. Hell, it could always be worse.
Sighing with a heavy heart, she lowers her rifle as she gazes upon her old little office type of setup that she used to have just less than a year ago now. Everything seems to have been misplaced and out of order on top of the desk, including all the stupid knickknacks that Mary, her co-worker, used to give her whenever her birthday came around. Usually it was something dumb like a wooden loon or a nutcracker or something, but Lilly couldn't ever bring herself to get rid of them. Despite them undoubtedly being some of the tackiest items available on the market, they definitely helped to make the place seem a little less gloomy than it almost always was. Taking orders and having to salute the generals, colonels and the like all the time really managed to take its toll.
Deciding to give it a shot and see if anything's left over, Lilly hops the front desk and carefully starts looting around inside; silently grateful that she doesn't need to do all of this bullshit paperwork anymore. Sadly, that's about the only thing about this job that she's glad to be rid of.
Besides a silenced M9 with one full clip, which is pretty useful in and of itself, there really isn't a whole lot leftover that's worth taking – unless of course somebody back at the dairy is short on paperclips and staples, because she's got plenty of those. Placing that back in her pocket, she goes to close the drawer shut and leave this office behind forever when something lightly crashes to the ground. Curious, Lilly lifts a picture frame off of the floor as her heart nearly snaps in two.
Of course it would be the picture of her family, all looking relatively happy together for really the only time that she can remember. This was over the Christmas holidays, if she can remember correctly. Probably taken around her ninth birthday judging by how young she looks in this picture.
This was the same year that her mother got diagnosed with leukemia, before she was…
Unable to finish the train of thought, Lilly rubs her eyes with her sleeve and curses herself for being so sentimental about this. Both her parents are gone, and there's nothing she can possibly do about it. She's just got to buck up, show some spine and find those weapons before Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb come find them first.
Carefully folding the photo up and placing it delicately in her pocket, Lilly breathes heavily as she tries to concentrate on the task at hand. As far as she's concerned, she can rest when she's dead – there's no time for taking it easy out here.
"So, sonny boy," Chuck tries to break the dull silence as Omid itches at the fabric now wrapped around his shoulder blade. He couldn't find anything besides a cotton-laced sweater? Really? "Where's home for you? You don't seem like the typical woodland folk – no offense if you are, of course."
Fitting his head through the hole in the top of his shirt, the man struggles to move his arms through along with the rest of his body as he hisses in slight pain. Too much pressure on the wound causes him to jump and yelp out every once in a while.
"Home? Well… it used to be out in California at one point. San Francisco," he clarifies, expecting the surprised look that he is receiving. "Yeah, I know… city boy who doesn't know the first thing about surviving. It's not as if I haven't heard that one before… owww…"
Opening up an old can of beans and offering some to the Persian fellow, Omid nearly gags at the smell but scoops up a handful nonetheless. You never really know when your next meal is gonna be, and he's really not one to refuse an old man's kindness – especially considering that he basically owes Chuck his life at this point.
"You took that arrow like a champ – I'd say that you're not just some average city mouse for a guy your age," Chuck compliments, holding the can up and eating the rest of his fill without a care in the world. It's a marvel at how relaxed and chill the guy seems to be. "So… if you're all the way out here, then I suppose that… well, where are you holed up in right now? Are you alone, or – "
"Christa!" he suddenly exclaims, as if suddenly remembering all of that stuff that he told Kenny before they took off in different directions. "Shit… I didn't even…" he cuts himself off, not really in the mood for some clever, joking comeback to his precarious position right now.
Has anything happened to her? Did she get nabbed somehow trying to go out into the woods to find him? Omid wouldn't put it past her if that's what she tried to do, after all – they all pretty much know who's the survivalist out of the two of them, and although it secretly discourages him sometimes with just how more capable she seems to be, Omid loves her all the same.
He hopes that she knows that much, at least.
Seeming to understand the predicament somehow, Charles places all of his leftover cans in a nice, neat pile up against an oak tree as Omid watches him with confusion. Shrugging his shoulders, Chuck rolls his leg as it falls asleep after having sat on it for so long. "Can't just leave my trash out all willie-nilly now, can I?" he remarks, wanting to at least retain some of his old habits from civilized society. Although civilization may have fucked him in the ass and left him to rot on the streets back in Atlanta, Chuck still can't help but be grateful for all that he's been given in life. "It's a damn good time to be alive…" he comments as Omid scoffs, not buying that for a second.
"I don't really think sitting out in the woods and trying not to die counts as being a great time…" Omid voices his opinion, feeling unusually pessimistic today as he draws some faces in the dirt with a stick.
Frowning, Chuck reaches into his pack and pulls out a halfway-finished (or halfway-full, depending on your perspective) bottle of whiskey as he offers the substance to his travelling companion. Whether this will be a long-term thing he's pretty unsure, but it's nice to have some actual company for a change. Sitting in that boxcar a ways back was getting really lonely, even for a homeless man.
"We've still got our health, don't we? And we've all still got some spirit left in our hearts," he explains in a gravelly voice, pulling out his guitar from beside the tree and tuning it a little bit. Hearing the sound of music playing actually puts a small ghost of a smile upon Omid's face. "There ain't no shame in enjoying the time you've got left, son. And that's never been more true than it is these days… grab life by the horns and hold on tight, 'cause tomorrow might be the last day you ever get to see the sunrise."
Listening as the old man melodiously strums his guitar in a rhythmic fashion, Omid subconsciously taps on his knee to the beat as he gazes up at the stars. There's no telling whether or not Christa's gonna make it, but he has to believe that she will. Losing hope might just cause him to readjust and question why he's even here in the first place, and that's never a path that you want to take, no matter how bad things can get.
With a heavy sigh, Omid closes his eyes and leans back; careful not to disturb the injury this time. The dark thoughts slowly start to slip out of his mind as he tries to find his happier place, with Christa at his side and his still-unborn child nestled up in his arms. Nothing would make him more proud than to have the proper family that he never knew he wanted.
"Kenny! Wh-what the fuck?!"
"Get up, you whiny bitch! I thought you were one of them assholes out there!" Kenny rolls his eyes, offering the guy a hand even though they aren't on the greatest of terms right now. Making sure that the sickle is nowhere near his head any longer, Lee grunts before reluctantly accepting the pull-up as he stands to his feet. "There's a whole bunch of farm tools we can use in here – grab one and let's get movin'!"
Not really in the mood to argue with him right now, Lee nods as he scurries into the slaughterhouse, still cringing at the dried blood even though their suspicions about the St. John brothers has finally diminished. Just seeing all of this stuff sends Lee into a bit of a snit.
Blood in general makes him think of that day that he came home to find his wife and the state senator…
"Lee! Get a move-on, man!" calls Kenny from the barnyard door, shaking Lee out of his thoughts as he quickly grabs a pitchfork to match the rifle that he's slung across his back. This should do pretty nicely in a pinch. As he jogs back to his "friend", or whatever their status has dropped to now, Lee makes sure not to accidentally hit Kenny with it as they poke their heads out to check some things. "Found somethin' pretty in there, did ya?"
"Might not look like much, but this thing'll cause a shit-load of damage up close," Lee retorts, turning to the moustachioed man with a frown etched onto his face. "And Kenny, what the hell were you thinking?! I thought you said they weren't following your ass!"
"I was runnin' for my life, dick! And I didn't hear them creepin' up on me, so don't just go around pointing fingers!"
With a deep sigh, Lee shakes his head as he realizes that arguing about this is pretty pointless. It doesn't matter who's fault it was – they're here now, and they've got to deal with the issue at hand. "Well, they aren't exactly subtle…" Lee comments, pointing over to the house as some of the bandits bend down over by one of the gas tanks for some reason. "The hell are they doing over there?" Lee wonders as Kenny follows his gaze.
Gripping the sickle with ferocious temperament, Kenny thinks over their options. This dairy is done, that much is for certain, and the St. John boys are nowhere in sight. Clem, Carley, Kat and Duck are out in the corn fields just waiting for him to pop out safely, and Christa's god-knows where. He couldn't really give a damn about wherever the hell Lilly ran off to, but Omid… the last thing he told him was to keep Christa safe, regardless of what might happen to him.
One way or another, Kenny's getting these people off of this farm.
"Just leave 'em be," Kenny advises, for once not adopting a shoot first, ask questions later mentality as he lays out the plan. "They're out in the corn stalks just waiting for us, Lee. We need to make a break for it – this place is done. The less time that we spend tryin' to defend a farm that's basically gone to shit, the better off we'll all be. We should get back on the road and head off to the coast like I suggested before."
"We can't walk all the way to Savannah!" Lee whispers harshly, reminding him of how far that place actually is. Not that Lee really wants to go there in the first place, but still. "And besides, Mark's still upstairs, and don't even think about leaving Lilly and Omid behind! Where are we supposed to meet up with them?"
Knowing prior to speaking that Lee wouldn't be fully on board with the idea, Kenny irritably shakes his head as the two of them start to smell the scent of smoke in the air. "That RV is the only hope we've got – we get that beauty back, and it'll be smooth sailing from here all the way to the coast."
"You didn't answer my other question."
"Lilly can fend for herself, and Omid told me to take care of Christa," Kenny snaps sharply, looking rather down about the whole exchange with him and the soon-to-be-father. "She's pregnant, man – do you get that? She's going to have a child of her own, and we've gotta get her somewhere safe. A farm that's getting turned on its head isn't the answer! We need to get that RV, find a boat and get out somewhere inhabitable!"
Seeing the breath out in front of them as the crisp, night air starts to cool them, Lee resists the urge to sputter out in shocked, confused syllables. Pregnant?! Wow… he never would've expected that, although with Christa he never really knew what to expect. I mean, she was tough and gritty when it came to people that she didn't know very well, but he just assumed that that was her personality. Maybe it actually is, or maybe it's just that she's… carrying for two.
Creaking the door open a smidge, Kenny takes one careful step out into the darkness as he tries to make a break for it.
"Looks like the coast is clear," he murmurs, motioning for Lee to follow in behind swiftly. "Alright, we'll sprint over there on the count of – "
"GOT YOU, MOTHER FU-" the bandit gets cut off as Lee and Kenny nearly shit themselves; getting tasered in the neck by none other than Katjaa of all people as the guy collapses to the ground. His entire body twitches as Kenny recollects himself and slashes the guy right in the temple to end it.
Katjaa looks unnerved, not only by the violence that she just dished out, but by how simple it was for Kenny to kill somebody so quickly. As if realizing his actions, Kenny attempts to comfort his wife, but is dismayed when she simply scrunches up her face and shakes her head; dropping the animal Taser to the ground as she bites her fingernails instinctively.
"Kat, I…" Kenny stutters, not liking the look that he's receiving as Lee bends down to a jogging Clementine. This is something that he hasn't seen within his wife's eyes before – mistrust, misjudgement, and possibly most shocking of all… a bit of betrayal, it seems like. All within the course of one action, and it's like everything's changed.
All over the life of one miserable bandit.
As Duck comes out to rush towards him at the side, Kenny can't help but feel a little scared. This isn't like Katjaa, and it's definitely a look that he doesn't want a repeat of, least of all from her. With people outside of his own immediate family, he would probably be able to cut off ties and loose ends, but not this.
Almost as if on cue, Carley comes prancing out of the field with Christa in tow as the latter steadily looks down to the ground. It seems that everyone's been losing someone important to them over the past few days.
"ARGH! FUCKING – " the bandit over by the gas meter swears, getting shot at by Danny as the brother tries to hold him back. The two bandits that remain decide that it'd be much easier for them to just take this loss for what it is and sprint back where they came from, no doubt over to the motor-inn.
Not before they shoot up the gas tank at the side of the house as well as the propane leak that's spilled out from the generator.
"SHIT! EVERYONE DOWN!" Kenny orders as he shields Duck and Katjaa with his arms and pulls them back into the barn. Just in time, too, as the immediate aftermath results in a pretty hefty miniature explosion from both of the chain reactions. The bandits have scurried, although one person's sweater is on fire as they rip it off and toss it away like a live grenade.
The effects have already been felt, as Andy and Danny watch in horror as everything they worked so hard for over the years starts to burn and collapse right in front of their eyes.
"…where's Mark?" Carley questions as Lee widens his eyes and looks up to the second floor of the house. Taking that as a sign, the reporter sprints off straight into the blaze as she opens the front door and steps into the burning building like some kind of firefighter.
"CARLEY!" Lee bellows after her, although she can't hear anything other than the crackling of wood and her own violent coughs as the smoke starts to blind her and enter her lungs.
Well, she's not too sure exactly how she managed to accomplish this, but Lilly has successfully gotten up the stairwell with relatively no time to spare. With the walkers heading off in the other direction after having broken through the glass to the outside, this has pretty much been a walk in the park for the woman.
It's breaking into the weapons cabinet that's proving to be more of a challenge. Without any set of keys to speak of, and not knowing the combination to get into this thing, Lilly's going to have no choice other than to bust this open with a whole lot of firepower and a whole lot of noise.
"Gah… screw it…" she mumbles to herself, cocking the rifle back and firing into the cabinet's lock three times until it shatters. Cursing under her breath as she hears a whole lot of scurrying downstairs, Lilly bends down and opens the weapons cabinet, which is basically the size of a fridge.
What she finds inside puts a smile to her worn-out face.
Guns, and lots of them – pistols, a couple of semi-automatic rifles, a shotgun for close encounters, one machine gun for those heavy-duty situations, a few hand grenades and some jumper cable for the military trucks they used to have stationed outside. From what Lilly could see, most of them were either gone already or smooshed under rubble out in the parking lot. That's not exactly great for her escape plan, but if she could walk all the way here, then she can certainly conjure up enough strength and resilience to walk back. Of course, the added weight will definitely be slowing her down, but that's not something she's too concerned about.
Besides, seeing the impatient look on Kenny's face when she returns will be totally worth it.
"I'm telling you, Russ! You've gotta set your standards low, and then work your way up afterwards," calls a voice close by, no doubt having heard the gunshots that she was letting loose on an innocent gun cabinet. Panicking a little bit, Lilly dives over behind a toppled desk as she scoots her legs forward to avoid detection. "Trust your old pal Nate – the pain of rejection is a fuck-ton less when you set your standards low to begin with. It might be a burning sensation in your gut for a little while, but with a guy your height, I'm thinking you can compromise for that."
"Are women literally the only thing you ever think about?"
"Course not, silly! I also think about booze, sex and drugs – what kind of crazy motherfucker do you think I am?"
Definitely a bad kind, Lilly thinks to herself, staying perfectly still after she accidentally kicks over a garbage can with her foot. When both men turn their heads towards the sound, Lilly internally groans in frustration as she unzips her stash and pulls out the shotgun to get ready for use if need be. The thing's a lot heavier than it looks, and Lilly's never actually tried one of these puppies out before, but she figures that if she's used one big gun, she's used them all.
Steeling herself for whatever happens next, she chooses to let these two bozos to make the first move before trying anything. Maybe she doesn't have the whole story here.
"…hello? Come on out, whoever you are! We know you're there – we won't hurt you, I promise!" the younger of the two exclaims, glaring at the trucker as he raises his hands in defense. "Damn it, Nate! Put that thing down!"
"Hehe… that's what she said…"
"For crying out… You know what? No, never mind. It's hopeless with you…" the boy sighs, widening his eyes as Lilly pops out of her hiding spot with the shotgun fully-loaded and ready to fire. At this distance, she can't miss. "Whoa there, easy! We-we're friendly! We just want to talk, that's all!"
"On your knees, the both of you," she commands, gesturing to his taller, more slime ballish companion as (Russell, she thinks his name is?) does as she asks him. The other guy isn't nearly as cooperative, so Lilly aims the weapon right towards him to provide some incentive. "Maybe you didn't hear me the first time – on. The. Ground. Now! You can make this whole thing easier on yourselves!"
Chuckling merrily, Nate bends one knee in a marriage proposal position as he grins like a tool. What the hell is wrong with this dude?!
"You're a feisty one, aren't you? I like that," he purrs, wiggling his eyeballs in a creepy fashion. "What say you and I go back to the truck and make a little whoopee? I promise that I don't bite – I'm not so sure about you though, baby cakes!"
Narrowing her eyes some more, Lilly lowers the shotgun down a little ways as she practically dares him to try something stupid like that again.
"Say that one more time," she warns, not being one to back down on threats, "and I shoot off your most valuable asset."
Unable to believe his ears, Nate looks over to Russell as if he's just won the million dollar jackpot with a random lottery ticket. "Are you seeing this, Russ?! Can you even believe this broad?!" he questions as Lilly rolls her eyes in annoyance. She doesn't have time for these two, so she carefully backs up to scoop the heavy bag and swinging it over her shoulder with some difficulty. "Tough and strong?! I think she and I are going to get along famously!"
"Tch, yeah… she looks really impressed by you," Russell mutters sarcastically, breathing out a sigh of relief when she doesn't pull the trigger. "Look, we've been on the road for days now, and we've basically gotten nowhere. We were only stopping here to look for supplies – food, water, medicine, that kind of thing. You wouldn't happen to know where we could find some, do you?"
Shooting him an exasperated look, Lilly sighs deeply as she prepares to head back downstairs. "If I really knew where there was food," she lies, not wanting to put the group's safety at risk over two people that she doesn't know, "do you honestly think anyone would want to tell you where it was?"
Looking rather discouraged as they fail to get anywhere with this, Russell nods his head disappointedly as he steadily gazes at the floor. Lilly can see that he's just a kid, and it looks as though this Russell guy has a heart of gold with a pretty good head on his shoulders.
So how in the ever-loving fuck did he end up with a scum bag like Nate?!
Sensing that his tactics aren't working, Nate scoffs as he rolls his eyes and stands up; choosing to follow Lilly downstairs as he lightly kicks his fellow survivor in the side. "Amateur… let me show you how the pros handle things like this," Nate proudly proclaims, making Lilly's skin crawl as she tries to pick up the pace. Unfortunately, Nate and Russell both catch up to her as she flashes them a dangerous glare – the girl's still got the ball in her hands right now. "Listen, Honey Bunches of Oats, we've all got some crazy shit and excess baggage that we've got lugging around, but we need to be able to help one another, right? I mean, isn't that what all that friendship bullshit was all about? We've got a truck waiting outside and – "
"No, I will not have sex with you!"
"Jesus fucking Christ, lady! Would you let me talk for a damn minute?! It's not like that this time!" Nate shakes his head, already deciding in the back of his mind that she might even be too much for him to handle of all people. "We know you're bullshitting about not having any stuff on you – I mean, why would you waste your time gathering guns if you didn't have any food to spare? So here's the proposal: we take you wherever you need to go in our little truck out there, and you get two dashing new crew members as a result," he beams, wrapping an arm tightly around Russell's shoulders. "In exchange, you split the supplies with us, AND you stop aiming your gun at my junk. So what do you say, baby cakes? We got a deal here?"
Offering out his hand as a friendly (or not-so-friendly) handshake, his fingernails starting to blacken and his skin hardened no doubt to years of manual labour, Nate tries to seal the deal and get Lilly to be on their side. There are potentially a billion things that could go wrong with this, with Nate being pretty much single-handedly every single bad reason why… but that truck might just be enough to win her over. A truck means that they could potentially get back out on the road again – probably not everyone's going to fit in the back, but they could make concessions if need be. Carley, Mark, Kenny and his family, Lee, Clem, Christa and Omid… and then her. It might not be comfortable in the back of a pickup truck, as some of them might have to get sandwiched in together in order to fit, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
Being smart enough not to trust Nate just yet (if ever), Lilly points over to Russell as the young man straightens out his back. "He's driving – we're headed to a dairy a good distance away," she informs the duo, ready to leave these grey-coloured walls behind for good. The place has definitely seen better days in the past, and she can't help but be a little discouraged at the fact that she didn't find any of the helicopters sitting about. Lilly had hoped to find out more about their mystery attackers at the drug store, but the only thing she could possibly gather is that those walkers could've potentially been running this place for a while. Maybe those two were a part of that group. "You go exactly where I tell you to drive – no detours, because my gun is going to be locked and loaded in the back seat. No sudden moves, understand?"
Lilly waits for both men to pass by her before following a little bit behind them. No way is she going to let a couple of strangers get the jump on her, even if this is against her better judgement.
Carefully climbing out through the smashed glass while trying not to cut themselves, the three survivors quietly enter a clearing as they stay on the lookout for walkers. The cool, nighttime breeze whips up the scent of dead, decaying bodies as they scrunch up their faces in disgust, but it doesn't deter them from their goal as they see the blue pickup truck just waiting for them out in the parking lot. Nate shoots a walker that was loitering around in the cranium before opening the passenger door and tossing the keys over to his little friend.
"Your move, Russ," he smirks as the boy relents; putting the key into the slot and turning on the ignition. As Nate slides on his seatbelt and watches Russell mess around with the controls, he internally groans as the boy changes all the mirror, temperature and seat settings. Now he has to do that shit all over again! "Let's get Lassie back there home already – we're a team now! And teams need a game plan in order to win the championship trophy!"
"Remind me again exactly why I'm still stuck here with you?"
As the vehicle picks up dust behind them and they leave the air force base behind for good, Lilly can't help but feel a pang of remorse. Most of her co-workers here likely didn't make it, and they could've possibly been some of the walkers that they had just recently encountered before for all she knows.
But just as she's been telling herself for a while now, there's no use in feeling sympathy for the dead – they won't be able to hear you anyways.
Making sure to hold onto a loaded pistol as it sits safely in her lap, Lilly makes eye contact with Russell in the front seat – trying to convey the message that she means business this time around. No stupid moves like honking the horn incessantly or whatever else they can come up with.
"Make a left," she commands as he does as he's instructed.