Chapter 23: Museum Trip
Anne's POV
Clementine, Chris, and I made it back to the others, only to see Mike and Bonnie weren't back yet.
They must still be at the museum…
"I'm not supposed to be in labor yet, Kenny." Bec said as she had a hand on the archway to keep herself balanced. "What if something's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong. Babies know how to be born." Kenny said.
Bec looked at us. "Clementine! Anne! Chris!"
"Hey, y'all." Chris greeted.
Kenny looked at us. "What'd you find?"
"The building around back has an observation deck." Clementine replied.
"Somewhere where the baby will be safer?" Bec asked. "It's coming so much faster than I thought."
"It's high up, so it should be safe from walkers." I stated.
"Sounds good. As soon as Mike and Bonnie are back, we'll go." Kenny said.
Bec held her stomach. "Hey, Clem." She called and Clementine walked over to her. "Glad you made it back safe." She said as Kate and Ashley walked over to me and my boyfriend, still holding hands.
"Hey, guys." Ashley greeted.
"Hey, Kate. Hey, Ash." Chris greeted.
"Amanda's not happy the three of us are friends." Kate told him.
I looked at a table Amanda was sitting at and frowned at her. She looked at me and frowned back.
"Too bad. The three of us made peace with each other. If she doesn't like it, then she can kiss my ass!" He said.
"I heard that!" Amanda said.
"You were meant to!" Chris said.
Amanda stood up and stormed up to him again, only for Tess to get in the way.
"Get away from my brother." She ordered, then punched Amanda in the mouth.
Amanda fell to the ground then spit some of her blood on the ground.
Chris looked at Tess. "Don't, Tessie. Like I told you, this is my fight. It's time I fought it myself."
Tess sighed. "Sorry. Habit."
"It's cool, Tess." He said.
"We ain't seen Mike or Bonnie in a while." Kenny said as Amanda walked back to where she was sitting. "And I'm not saying I don't trust 'em. But I'd appreciate it if you went and checked up on them." Kenny told Clementine.
"Clair and I can go with her." I said as Clair walked up.
"Yeah, go on ahead. I'll be fine." Bec said.
Clementine, Clair and I, then started walking to the museum.
When we arrived at the museum, we saw a couple of dead walkers.
Mike musta hit 'em with that sledgehammer of his…
We walked inside the museum and Mike spotted us.
"Hey, girls." He said.
"Hey." Clair and I greeted.
"Clem, I thought you and Anne went with Jane and Chris?" Bonnie inquired. "She didn't take off did, she?"
"Yeah. She trying to get the place we found ready for Bec." Clementine replied.
"Well, that's good." Bonnie said.
"Just gimmie like ten more minutes to search around." Mike requested.
"He doesn't want to go back empty-handed."
Mike shrugged. "What? I just wanna help."
"Keep one eye on the woods while we're in here. I don't want nothin' sneakin' up on us." Bonnie said to Mike.
"I'll watch this side, you watch the other." Mike said.
"Deal."
Clementine looked at the cannon near us. "Jane said these don't work anymore."
"Nah. They're just for show. Be handy, though!" Mike said.
"Also really loud." Bonnie pointed out.
"Good point." Mike said then went back to looking through the box. "You think maybe they say that stuff about water and blankets just to get people out of the way?"
Good question…
"Oh, you don't know what the hell you're talkin' about. And you didn't have to come with me." Bonnie said.
"No, I wanted to… never mind."
"There have sure been some animals through here. Watch where you step." Bonnie said as Clem and I walked to a display table.
"Any luck?" Mike asked.
"No, not so much. Unless you want some broken glass." Bonnie replied.
"Lee would have loved this place." Clementine thought aloud.
"I bet he would've." I said.
"I tell you, I sure don't like being near a graveyard with the world the way it is now." Bonnie said.
"Way things are now, you're in a graveyard all the time." Mike said.
"Yeah… true enough." Bonnie said.
"Damn straight." I said.
"Language." Clair scolded.
"Sorry." I said.
Clair walked to a water cooler. "Empty." She muttered.
I walked over to where the souvenirs were.
"Souvenirs, huh. Lookin' for a keychain with your name on it?" Bonnie joked.
"No. Why would I want a keychain? I don't even have any keys." I retorted.
"Ah. Good point."
Clem walked over to Mike. "I sure hope we can find something to take back."
"Me too." Clementine said.
I walked over to Bonnie. "Do you see anything good?" I asked.
"Not so far. But let's give the place a good going over." She replied.
Clair found a Civil War coat and picked it up. "Hey, look at this, guys! An old coat!" She called out, bringing me, Clementine, Mike, and Bonnie to her.
"Nice! Good find, Clair." Bonnie said.
"You should hang onto that. It's gonna get a lot colder before it starts gettin' warmer." I said.
"Maybe we could give it to Bec." Clair said.
"That's a good idea… I'm sure she'll really appreciate it." Bonnie said, then looked at Clementine. "I guess you've already got that old coat I gave you." She said, then looked at me. "I feel so bad about everything that happened. Hopefully you won't always think of me like that."
"You're with us now, Bonnie. That's what matters most." I assured her, smiling.
Mike walked over to us. "Clair found a jacket." Bonnie told him.
"That's great, but, uh, isn't grey the, y'know, uh…?" Mike tried to ask.
"Spit it out, man." I said.
"We can't put Bec in a Confederate coat."
"Oh, I didn't even think about that." Bonnie said.
"Guess it's better than nothing, though."
I walked to the box Mike was looking through and took a look inside.
"Nothing but junk in there. Trust me." Mike told me.
"Shit…" I hissed.
Clair frowned at me. I tried opening the door next to the box, but it was locked. I then moved the box and opened the shutter then looked inside and my eye widened then I smiled and looked at the others.
"Over here!" I called and they walked over to me. Bonnie took a look inside.
"Water! Bottled and clean, that's just what we need!" She said as Clair smirked at me.
"Nice job, Anne!" She praised and I smiled as Bonnie tried opening the door.
"Wouldn't bother, Bonnie. I already tried. It's locked." I told her as she then looked at Mike.
"You wanna kick it down?" She asked.
"That's make an awful lot of noise." Mike pointed out.
"Yeah, maybe. You know if someone was small enough, they could… maybe squeeze through that gap there."
"All right, all right… I'll go." Clementine said.
"Thanks, Clem." Mike said.
"Just open the door from the other side. Mike'll carry those things out. Might be a bit… heavy for ya." Bonnie said.
Clementine walked to the gap and tried to squeeze through. "Agh… I'm stuck."
"Okay. Maybe I push from…" Bonnie started when a walker grabbed Clementine. Clair and Bonnie tried to pull Clementine free as Mike kicked the door in then shoved the walker into the corner, then I jammed my knife into the walker's head while Mike held it down.
"Well… that happened." Mike said.
"No kidding." Clair said.
"Guess I'm… not quite as small as I used to be." Clementine said.
"But you're tough for your size." Bonnie said.
"Hell, yeah." I agreed.
"Shit, you're tough for MY size." Mike said.
"I'm sorry I asked you. I won't do it again." Bonnie told Clem.
Mike looked at the two water bottles. "At least now we've got something to bring back."
"I'll keep checkin' the other room." Bonnie said.
"I'll go with you." Clair said.
The two then walked away.
"Let's get this water." Mike said then picked up one of the bottles with ease. Clementine struggled to pick up the other one. "Hey. I got this." Mike said then picked up the second bottle.
Damn, this guy is strong…
Clementine and I followed after him.
"That looks pretty heavy." Clementine pointed out.
"No shit." I agreed.
"Eh, it's all right." Mike assured us. "I know it looks like a lot, but we could all go through this pretty quick. Carver was crazy, but at least his shelves were always full…"
"You're right. I thought it looked like so much…" Clementine said.
"That baby's gonna be hard on everyone. Especially Bec. And between you and me, she's not looking too good…"
He ain't wrong… She did look exhausted already…
"Hey! Guys!" Bonnie called us over to her and Clair and we saw a raccoon. "It just walked on in like it owned the place. Figure it'd make a nice meal."
"We can eat raccoon?" Clementine asked.
"I'd eat the shit out of that raccoon." Mike said, making me, Clem, Bonnie and Clair look at him.
"Dude…" I said.
"Not like… I mean. Just that I'd be really happy to eat that raccoon. I am starving." Mike clarified.
"Fresh meat would go a long way with Bec." Bonnie said.
The raccoon spotted us then hid.
"Shoot! Don't let it get away!" Bonnie said.
"The one time I leave my bow and arrows with my horse." Clair said.
Clementine looked behind the post, then the display table.
"There he is!" Mike said, pointing at it.
"He's comin' your way, Anne!"
"I got him!" I said.
COME HERE, COON!
I lunged at him, but he moved out of the way. "Crap!" I said.
"Clem, block him!" Bonnie said.
The raccoon made it past us all then hid behind a tombstone. Mike pulled out his gun, but Bonnie lowered it. "Not with the walkers out there." She said when two baby raccoons showed up.
So this raccoon's a mother…
The babies and their mother then ran off.
"I'm even hungrier than I was before." Mike said.
"Well… at least it was kinda fun." Clementine said.
"Yeah… Huh. I guess it was." Bonnie said.
"Come on. Let's just get this back to Bec and the others." I said.
"Agreed. We don't have much time to waste." Clair said as Mike picked up the water and we then headed back to the others.
That's chapter twenty-three. Hope you guys like it. Review and I'll post more chapters.