Chapter 19: Old Adversaries
Chris's POV
Shocked by what happened, Sarita stumbled backwards when a walker bit her in the neck, resulting in her screaming. Kenny and Mike took off to her.
"How fuckin' dare you, Clementine?!" I heard Kenny shout. I kept moving, trying to stay calm.
"I'm goin' after Sarah!" Luke said as Tess and Nick followed behind him. Nick took a bullet to the shoulder, but kept running.
I looked around and saw Anne had disappeared. "Emily?!" I whispered when I felt someone grab me. I tried fighting back until…
"Stop!"
Bec!
She let me go and I turned to face her. "Thank god." She said as Anne and Clementine came with her.
"Where's Sarita, Clem?" I asked. I caught on when I saw a saddened look on her face. "I can't find anybody."
"I know. What do we do?" Bec asked. "Luke was with me, but… I- I can't do this alone…"
"You won't have to." Anne told her.
"We can't stay here, guys. We need to keep moving." Clem said.
"She's right." I said as Bec looked back at Howe's. "Look. The walkers are still moving toward the hardware store. We can make it out if we stick togeth-" She said, then cringed.
The baby must be kicking again…
"I'm glad you guys are here. We can watch each other's backs." Bec suddenly said.
"We'll stick with you." Clem assured her.
"Damn right." I said.
"Thank you, guys…" Bec said.
"We need a clear path to the trees…" Anne said.
"Maybe they're thinning out somewhere." I said.
"See any openings?" Bec asked Clem.
"There." The girl said as she crept straight ahead, but the walkers stopped us from advancing.
"Dammit! Go back, go back." Bec ordered as Clem then bumped into Jane.
"Jane!" Clem said.
"Jane! Thank god-" Bec started, but was cut off by Jane.
"Stop. Relax." Jane hissed. "You need to walk… SLOWLY. You'll be fine."
"Easy for you to say." I said.
"I can't do this. You have to help us… please." Bec pleaded to Jane.
"We can't clump together like this… it's better if we spread out. You guys will be fine." Jane said.
"No. You don't understand. Just help us." Bec pleaded.
"We need your help, Jane." Anne agreed.
"We won't make it through this without your help." I added.
"You guys are fine. Just go." Jane said.
"We should all stay together. Isn't that safer?" Clementine asked.
"Exactly the opposite." Jane replied.
Bec started whimpering, causing Jane to look back at us.
"Dammit." I heard Jane say. She then walked back to us. "We'll have to push through that cluster of walkers." She said, pointing at the herd.
"There's too many." Bec objected.
"We'll make a cow-catcher." Jane decided. "Just… we need…"
I rose an eyebrow. The hell is a cow-catcher?
"A what?" Clementine asked, voicing my thoughts.
"You'll see." Jane said as she looked at the walkers, until she pointed at one. "There. That one looks light enough to carry. I'm gonna get on the far side of her. I need you to get her attention." She told Clem.
Clementine walked toward the walker and hit it with her hatchet. The walker turned to her and then Jane grabbed it and cut its jaw clean off. "Not gonna bite anybody now, are ya?"
"Jesus Christ." I whispered.
"That was awesome." Anne whispered.
"Thanks." She said to Anne. "Follow me. Stay close. If you fall behind, I can't come back for you." Jane said.
Can't or won't?
We stayed right behind Jane until we made it to the tree line. Once we made it past the herd, Jane shoved the walker to the ground and killed it. "Let's go." She ordered. We followed her and made our way through the woods.
We kept walking through the woods. The sun had risen some, making it brighter to see where we were headed.
I looked at my girlfriend. "That was close." I said.
"No shit." She said.
"You think the others made it out?"
"I hope so."
"Me too."
Bec walked behind us, a hand on her stomach. Clem slowed her walking to talk to her.
"Is… everything all right?" She asked the woman.
"No. I'm not all right." Bec groaned. "But I'll be a lot better once we get with the others."
"I hear that." I said.
"I need to make sure everyone else made it out. Luke… Sarah… Tess… Ashley… Kenny… God damn it, what if they aren't there?" Bec asked.
"If they aren't… nothing we can do about it." Jane said.
I glared at her. "Don't you DARE say that." I snapped at her.
"Fine! Sorry."
"Jesus, I don't even know if we're safe. What if the herd is still following us?" Bec asked.
"We're fine." Jane said.
"It's been quiet, but who knows." Bec said.
"The gunfire should be keeping the walkers occupied." I pointed out.
"My boyfriend's got a point. Everyone knows noise attracts them." Anne said.
"It's been at least an hour since I saw any walkers." Clem stated.
"Like Chris said, Carver's people should be keeping them busy for a while." Jane said.
"That'd be lucky." Bec said, then placed her hands on her stomach. "I know I should feel glad we escaped, but I just can't stop thinking about the others."
"I know. I'm worried about Tess and Emily." I said.
"How could I leave Alvin behind…? It was stupid."
"What was? Escaping?" Jane questioned.
"Look, I know we all agreed to use the herd to get out, but… Maybe we should have been more patient. Come up with something better." Bec said.
"It worked!" Jane snapped.
"If you can call that working… We could've… I don't know…"
"Both of you knock it off. Ain't no sense in arguing." I said.
"The plan worked. We got out of there. Most of us." Clem stated.
She must be talking about Sarita…
"You did your best, Clem." Anne assured the girl.
"Look, I know that some of your people didn't make it, but Carver was crazy. Staying would've only prolonged the inevitable. I'm just saying that if people hadn't panicked, things might've turned out better." Jane said.
"Of course we fuckin' panicked! We were scared!" I snapped.
"The plan was good! The execution was the messy part." Jane objected.
"That sounds an awful lot like you're saying it was their fault." Bec inquired.
"What? No! No, that's not what I'm saying." Jane defended.
"What ARE you saying, then, Jane?" Anne asked.
"Just…" Jane started before Bec groaned and placed her hands on her stomach. Anne and I exchanged nervous looks, as did Clem and Jane. "I have to stop. I'm sorry. I don't want to slow us down. Can I just have a minute?" Bec asked.
Jane shrugged. "Yeah. Take a minute." She sighed.
"Thank you." Bec said, then whimpered. I knew it was about what happened to Alvin. "Alvin was supposed to be here for this."
I looked at Anne and saw a saddened look on her face. I looked down in sadness. Alvin was a good man.
"Is Alvin…?" Jane started.
"He's dead is what he is." Bec answered.
"Because of that madman I called a father." I growled.
"Jane, do you know anything about..." Clem asked.
"No. I don't." Jane replied.
Clem looked at me and Anne. The both of us shook our heads. "We don't either, Clem." I told her.
I noticed Jane looking at Bec's stomach.
"What are you gonna do with it?" Jane asked.
"What do you mean by that?" Bec asked.
Here we go…
"Uhh, sorry. Just making conversation. It was nothing." Jane quickly said.
"No. What do you mean by that? Do with what? My baby?!" Bec demanded.
"I'm just looking at the worst-case scenario. You, Anne, Chris, and Clem won't be able to raise a baby by yourselves. Not out here. I just mean it's gonna need food. And, y'know, other stuff."
"Yeah? And?"
"Guys. That baby is coming, like it or not…" Clem calmly intervened.
"Fine. And then what? It's going to be helpless, and you can't protect it!" Jane snapped.
"And you assume I won't be capable enough." Bec accused. "Just because you're some angry loner who doesn't care about anyone but herself doesn't mean you know better than me."
"Hey! I've seen it before. Back when it started… me and my sister, we were-" Jane started.
"What!? She died?!" Bec snapped.
Jane's shocked expression said it all.
"I don't need your pity!"
"That's enough! Both of you!" I shouted.
"Chris is right! Yelling at each other ain't gonna solve anything!" Anne said.
Jane's shocked look gave way to one of anger. "You don't… You don't have the right…"
"Jane!" Clem called.
"Shit, I didn't mean it…" Bec muttered.
"I'm sorry about your sister." Clem called.
"Jane, wait!" I called out, but my call fell on deaf ears as Jane kept walking.
As Jane trudged ahead of us, Anne froze. "Hold up… You hear that?" She asked us.
Jane, Bec, Clem and I paused walking. I listened closely and heard a twig snap. Anne reached for her hunting knife. I then heard the click of a gun. "Move and you're dead." I heard a female voice hiss. "Turn around. Slowly."
I stiffened and slowly turned around to find a teenage girl holding a gun at my face. She had straight brown hair, blue eyes, a white crop top, blue jeans, sneakers, and a necklace with a peace symbol on it.
I stiffened, recognizing the girl's face. Fuck… it's HER!
The girl rose an eyebrow as she looked at me, then smirked as she lowered her gun to my chest. "Long time, no see, FREAK."
I clenched my fists. "Amanda, get the fuck out of here. I'm not that scared little boy anymore." I seethed.
"Who the fuck is she?" Anne asked me. I didn't take my gaze off Amanda. "Remember that bitch I told you about who bullied me? She's the one I told you about. Only she's the worst of them all."
Bec pulled Clem close to her as Anne got her hunting knife ready, as did Jane. Amanda smirked that same smirk she always had when she cornered me. "Please, you're still just a scared little boy who always went crying to his momma and papa."
"Shut up."
"Where's your momma and papa? They dead?" Amanda taunted. "Cause if they are, then they won't have to see your ugly face anymore."
"Piss off." Anne snapped.
Amanda immediately aimed her gun at Anne, making my girlfriend freeze. "And what if I don't? Huh? Whatcha gonna do about it, bitch?" Amanda smirked.
Seeing this, I seethed with fury and grabbed Amanda's arm, struggling to get the gun out of her hand. "YOU BITCH!" I roared. Amanda hit me in the nose with her elbow before kicking me in my stomach, sending me to the ground. "You know, ever since this shit began, I realized something: I can finally do whatever I want, and what I want right now is to finish what I started." Amanda grinned as she aimed her gun at me. "Say goodnight forever, Red Eyes."
Before she could pull the trigger, Jane snuck up behind her and tackled her.
I hopped up to my feet and grabbed Amanda. "Listen here, you crazy bitch. You threaten my girlfriend or any of my friends again and I will make you pay!"
I then knocked Amanda out. Once I did, I stormed ahead of the others.
That's chapter nineteen. I'd like to thank AquaDestinysEmbrace for helping me introduce Amanda. Anyway, y'all know what to do.