Chapter Four
We arrive at the man's white house. It's a lot bigger up in person. White porch with a wooden rocking chair and a table to the side. He has an old green truck parked on the side of the house as well as a black car next to it. There's several trees lining the area which makes for great shade around the house. He pulls up to the side of the house as Finn and I get out.
"I don't usually get to see a lot of people nowadays. So it's nice to have you both here." He smiles at us. This explains his need to have us stay. Finn looks at me and I can see he's thinking the same thing.
As we walk into the house it seems to be pretty clean. There's a staircase in the middle of the house that leads to an upstairs. There's a big living room to the left. I can see another door that leads to another room in the back of the living room. He has pictures of what I'm guessing is his family lining the walls. As well as painting of the landscapes. Beautiful landscapes. A few I can tell are paintings of the land around the barn.
"My daughter." he walks up next to me. I didn't realize I was staring at this one painting of the little white house in an open field. "She was an amazing artist."
I smile slightly at the man. "I can tell." I feel a slight pain in my chest as I look over at another painting that seems to hit me with a bolder. The painting is of trees. The base of the trees are at the bottom while the tree is going up into the top of the canvas almost as if it's popping right out of the painting.
"Clarke? Clarke what are you doing?" I can hear the amusement in my dads voice.
"These trees are so beautiful. I have to draw them!" I say as I sit down on a rock and take out my sketchbook and pencil.
"You do realize we can't stop every two minutes for you to draw everything. This is a nature walk, not a nature draw." He laughs as he takes a seat next to me.
"I know, I know dad but imagine looking at a drawing and these trees seem to be popping out the top of the paper!" I quickly get started as I look from the trees to the paper. I can feel my father's smiles radiate off of him as he sits and watches me. He tells me a few things I should do to make it looks better. We laugh as I continue the drawing. About an half hour later I finish the drawing.
I raise it up to the tree and look over at my father. He gives his best judging face which I can't help but laugh at. He glances down at me and smirks.
"Looks almost identical." I grin at my dad as he puts his arm around me and kisses the top of my head. I look down at my drawing. It really does look like the threes are coming out.
"You okay there?" I shake my head as I frown at the tall bearded man next to me.
"Oh yes I'm fine." He looks at me one more time before turning to the side,
"Come to the dining room and i'll get you something to eat and drink."
Finn walks up to me, touches my arm softly and whispers,
"You alright there Clarke? you kinda just zoned out."
"Yeah, I'm Good Finn." He gives a slight nod of his head as we walk into the dining room.
After I take a few deep breaths to relax my emotions I just began to notice the house is cool. I'm not all hot like I was outside. This man has air conditioning. The man flips the switch on the wall and turns on the light to the dining room. Oh. My. God. I almost completely forgot there was a such thing as light switches. Finn looks as shocked as I do. The man turns and looks at us. He laughs at the look on our faces.
"Why don't you have a seat?" He motions to the table and we take a seat. The man brings out a pitcher of iced tea. Iced tea...iced tea.
What even is ice? Oh my god.
The man grabs two glasses and pours us some. I take the glass and Feel the coldness of the drink on my hand. I take a drink and I think I've just dead and gone to heaven. Dear lord this is probably the best thing I have ever tasted. The look of Finns wide eyes as he takes another big gulp tells me he thinks the same.
"I'm sorry." says the man. I turn and look at him. "I never got y'all's names."
"Oh I'm sorry. I'm Clarke."
"My name is Finn."
The man smiles at us "Finn and Clarke. I think those two names go together." He says with a wink. Of course he says that.
"And your name?" I say to the man.
He stands up with the pitcher of now empty tea, "I'm Doug."
"Well Doug I really thank you for giving us this amazing tea, and letting us into your home but we should really get going now." The man looks at me suspiciously.
"Why are you in such a hurry to leave?" I look at the man then back at Finn. Ah crap. My mind goes blank as I try to think of a reasonable reason to leave.
"We have to find my brother." I look at Finn questionably "Bellamy." I sigh as I look at the man.
"You have a brother?"
"Yes, we got separated a couple days ago. We've been looking for him since." Finn looks down at his glass. It's empty like mine but he still is looking at it. His eyes go dark as you can see him get consumed in a sad memory. I wonder if that's how I look when I zone out of thoughts of my dad.
"I miss him like crazy. He means the world to me and we're always there for each other." He smiles a sad smile. "I need him as much as he needs me. It's hard without him. He makes this whole world a lot easier." He looks up at me and Doug "I know it's only a couple days." He chuckles lightly "It feels like months though." He hands Doug the glass back.
Okay either he's the best liar ever or there's a lot more to Finn then I thought.
Doug looks down at the glass. The air in the dining room seems to have grown thick with sadness.
"I can tell how much he means to you Finn." He takes a seat down in the table. "My daughter means the world to me. I would do anything for her. To have her back." His eyes start to glisten as he looks up to a family picture. "My whole family. I miss them more than words can explain."
"My wife she." He pauses for a couple of minutes. "She was turned first, by one of those things passing through the woods. She was gone for the rest of the day. I left my daughter at home while I went out looking." He looks down at the red table runner that is in the middle of the table. I glance at Finn whose eyes are locked on the sad man.
"My daughter she begged me not to go..but I told her I needed to find mommy." His shoulders droop. You can see his sadness written on his whole body. "I was only gone for a couple hours you see not even that long! I came back to find my wife taking a chunk of my daughter's arm off as she screams for her life. I grabbed my wife and pulled her off of my daughter. My daughter told me just to kill them both. That her mommy was already dead and now she's gonna die as well. She begged me. She didn't want to become one of those things." A tear falls from his face but he quickly swipes it away. "I never listened to her. I put her in the barn and left her there." He clears his throat while he fiddles with his fingers. I look down at my lap unable to look at the man anymore.
"I had finally mustered up enough courage to do what she had always wanted me to do, then I meet Albert." He stands up and takes the pitcher with him back to the kitchen. I frown as the man disappears behind the closed door. I turn to Finn. Finn looks lost in his own world. He hasn't looked up for a while now. I was about to call his name when the man came in with a full pitcher and some sandwiches.
"Here. Eat." My body moves so quickly without me even thinking. I grab one of the little sandwiches and start devouring it like I haven't eaten my whole entire life. Well by the taste of this sandwich makes me think I haven't eaten anything in my life. Finn seems to be shaken of his thoughts at the sight of the food. After several minutes of silence. Finn and I finish our food. The man glances at us both occasionally before speaking again.
"Albert was a good man. His son worked for the CDC. He had gotten a few telephone calls from his son saying they were working on a way to fix this thing before it gets worse then it already is. Months passed by as things got worse but he never lost hope in his son." He takes a deep breath before continuing.
"Albert went insane. He lost everything he just went mad one day. He kept saying he needed to be with his son. I told him to have some faith that god will protect him and his son. He was already too far gone. Mentally that is. I sent Albert to go get us some water for dinner one day. He was gone for hours. I got that sick pain in the pit of my stomach. I went out, almost dark, to go look for him. I went to the lake I notice some bubbles coming out of the water. I walked in to get a closer look just have Albert come walking out at me. His eyes were blue as he growled at me trying to grab me. A chain around his neck that was attached to the rocks. He killed himself."
My breath gets caught in my throat. Dead silence falls all around us, No one moves a muscle. I can't pull my eyes away from Doug. The grey haired man looks like a little kid, haunted by the memory from his past.
That's where Doug gets his inspiration to believe that one day he'll have his daughter back. Albert's hope lives in Doug. He doesn't wanna lose his hope. He doesn't wanna get to point where he says he has to die too. His hope of getting his daughter back. Which is probably not the best hope, But it's what is helping him survive. We either live by something, Or don't live at all.
Doug sighs as he looks at me then back to Finn.
"You can take my green truck that's out there. Use it to get to the next city."
I'm taken aback by what he says. It takes me a minute to even register what he said.
"Oh no Doug we can't take your truck.." I say in protest to the man.
"No please. I want you both to have it. Take it to find your brother." He looks at Finn with sympathetic eyes. "Take it to find your place in this world." He turns and looks at me. I frown slightly at the man. His words get me thinking. What exactly is my place?
"My place is here in my farm. With my family. With Albert. The least I Can do is help you find yours."
"Thank you." Finn says to the man. Doug simply smiles and stands up from the table.
"I'll pack you some canned foods for your trip and a few water bottles." He disappears behind the door before coming back in a few minutes with a backpack full of food. He has the keys in his hand as well as something else.
"Clarke." He puts the bag down and turns to me. "I want you to have this." He hands me a little bracelet with a name written on it. "It belonged to my daughter. Emily. It was a gift from her mother. I want you to have it." I open my mouth to protest but he puts his hand up in response. He shakes his head and pulls my hand out in front of me to put the bracelet in it. "You have a connection with her. I saw by the way you looked at that painting out there. Remember my daughter. Let her guide you. Like she has guided me since she was born." He says with a smile. He lets go of my hand and I feel as if I'm about to break down right then and there. It takes everything in me not to just wanna cry right here right now. Finn grabs the backpack and keys.
"Thank you Doug. Truly." Doug nods his head in response.
"If you leave now you'll get to the nearest city before sundown." We all walk outside to the side of the house. We stand by the truck and look out to the fields and the small road leaving the area.
"Go down this road till you reach the main road. Then turn right. Keep on right till you reach the city." He points in the direction of the road and Finn nods his head. He opens the door and gets in. I smile at Doug and thank him for the food and giving me his daughter's bracelet. I assure him I will never forget her.
As we drive away from the little white house I glance back to see Doug waving in this distance.
I kinda feel bad about leaving Doug all alone out here. I kinda wish I could stay with him but I know I can't. I need to get back to my friends. They're probably freaking out by now. Especially raven. This is the longest I've been away from her since we meet. I look down at the bracelet. I put it next to my dad's watch. I didn't even know the girl but for Doug I will never forget her.
"Did you notice what he said about Albert?" I Turn and look at Finn who glances at me but keeps his eyes on the road ahead. "He killed himself and still turned into a walker." Oh yea, That's a good point.
"Yeah, I noticed."
"You know what the means right?" I look out into the endless tall grass fields and notice a group of walkers walking in the distance.
"It means no matter how we die, we'll all become a walker." It's in all of us.