Chapter 28: Standoff
Chris's POV
As the gunshots rang out, most of us took cover. I led Sarah to safety. Anne, Ashely, Kate, Amanda, Patrick, and Verity followed me to where Luke took cover. Kenny, Chase, Tess, Nick, Emily, Jennifer, Dylan, and Rebecca took cover in the trees and started firing back. Clair led Windrun out of harm's way then started shooting off her arrows.
Evonne, Shel, and Becca joined me, Anne, Sarah, Kate, Ashely, Amanda, Patrick, and Verity in cover. I looked at saw Clementine ducked down. She lifted her head and looked around. I saw Arvo trying to help his sister as Mike stumbled back a bit.
"Shit. I'm hit. I'm hit!" He shouted.
"Mike, get over here!" Bonnie ordered.
Clementine looked at me and Luke. "Clem!" I shouted.
She then looked at Tattoo Dude, who was shooting off his shotgun, then to Kenny, and those with him.
"Fuck you! You started this shit!" Kenny said.
The guy they were shooting at said something in Russian.
I then saw Clementine crawling forward. She ducked down to avoid getting shot.
"Hey! What're you doing?" Luke said to her.
"Clem! Get behind cover!" I ordered.
"You're out in the open!" Anne added.
Clementine then took off forward and came back… with the baby!
"Holy shit." I said.
"I didn't even see him out there!" Kate said.
"Good work, Clem." Luke said then he and I lifted up a bit, only to duck down again to dodge getting shot. "Shit. Okay… okay, we gotta do somethin' y'all. We're pinned down here."
"No shit, Luke!" Amanda said.
"We can't just… sit here and let this guy take potshots at us till he runs out of ammo." Luke said.
"So quit talking about it and do it!" Clementine said.
"Yeah… yeah, all right." Luke said.
Kenny shot twice then took cover. "This don't have to get any worse than it already is!" He said.
"You can just go!" Nick added.
The guy spoke Russian again.
"English, motherfucker!" Tess shouted.
"I kill every one of you!" The guy said.
"Good fuckin' luck with that!" Emily snapped.
"We need a plan here!" Ashley said.
"If I can just get over to that side of the wall, I could maybe get an angle on this guy." Luke said.
"Good thinking!" Evonne said.
"Cover me, all right?" Luke said to Clementine. "Just shoot over towards the woods."
"I'll… I'll try." Clementine said.
"Yeah? Well, okay. Good… good. I just need the distraction. Okay? All right, on my go."
She waited then…
"Go!"
Clementine shot towards the woods, and Luke began to make his way to us.
"Hey! What're you…?" Kenny started until Luke got shot in the leg.
"Luke, No!" Bonnie shouted.
Tattoo Dude aimed at Luke, but Kenny shot Tattoo Dude in the head, killing him. I helped Luke over to us.
"Luke! Are you okay?" Clementine asked.
"Well, he got me in the leg, but… I think… I think it went straight through… shit, I don't know." He replied then groaned in pain. "I'm gonna be fine… I think I'm gonna be fine."
Next thing I heard was Kenny saying "You get out here, or I put a bullet in this kid's head!"
I looked up and saw he was holding Arvo at gunpoint.
"Let him go, Kenny!" Clementine ordered.
"No!" The old man said.
"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" Rebecca T. asked.
"I'm ending this." He replied, then turned his attention to the last shooting Russkie. "Get out here! Right fuckin' now!"
The Russian spoke in his native language as Arvo still struggled to get out of Kenny's grip. "Quit fightin' me, boy! You think I'm bluffing? Get out here!" Kenny shouted.
I looked at Arvo's sister to see her eyes were milky white.
Shit, she turned!
Arvo struggled still to get free, but Kenny didn't let go. "Stop squirmin', damn it." Kenny snapped at Arvo.
She started crawling to us, but Clementine shot the woman in the head, killing her.
"Noooooo!" Arvo shouted, then finally got free from Kenny's grasp and crawled to his sister. The other Russian fired at Kenny, who ducked down. "Natasha! Natasha! Noooo! Please!" Arvo said then turned a hateful look to Clementine.
The other guy stepped out from where he was hiding, planning to shoot Kenny until He was stabbed in the back of the neck. I looked and saw it was…
"Jane!" I called out. Kenny walked to the Russian and shot him.
"It's safe to come out." Kenny said.
"Here… I got him." Bonnie said. Clementine handed the baby to Bonnie then we all came out of hiding.
"Jesus Christ… that was, uh… that was intense." Dylan said.
"No kidding." Clair said.
"I thought… man, I thought that was it." Mike said.
"It was for these assholes." Kenny said.
Tess and Emily immediately ran to me. "Are you okay? Did they get you?" Tess asked.
"I'm fine, sis." I assured her.
"Are you sure?" Emily asked.
"Positive." I said, then they both hugged me tightly, and I hugged back. The three of us were all the family we had left, so I don't blame them for being worried about me. Because, in all honesty, I was worried about them.
We all then walked to Bec's corpse. Luke cast a look at Jane, who soon looked away from him.
"How did this happen?" Mike asked.
"She… turned. Just like that." Shel replied.
I looked at Kenny to see a look of guilt on his face.
"Don't go blamin' yourself, Kenny." Bonnie said.
"She's right. You did what you had to… to protect the boy." Jennifer said.
"She just lost too much blood. It ain't nobody's fault." I said.
"She would've been a good mom…" Anne said.
"Yeah… yeah, she would have." Sarah agreed.
"Don't worry, Bec… we'll take care of your boy… you rest easy." Bonnie said.
I saw Kenny growl, clench a fist and storm to Arvo. "You piece of shit!" He shouted then hit Arvo.
"Hey, hey!" Evonne said as Bonnie handed Clementine the baby.
Mike, Lue, and I ran to help Arvo. "Stop!" Mike said.
"Get off me!" Kenny snapped.
"Guys, guys! Come on!" Luke said.
"It's over, man. He ain't a threat to us." I said.
"How can you say that? Of course he is!" Kenny said then pulled out his gun. "Get out of the way."
On instinct alone, I aimed my gun at Kenny. "Whoa! What the fuck are you doing?!" I asked.
"I'm doin' the same thing this asshole tried to do to us!" Kenny replied.
"He wasn't the one shooting at us! That guy's dead." Clementine intervened.
"Just cause he don't have a gun doesn't mean he wouldn't have." Kenny said.
"Well, he didn't. So leave him alone." Anne snapped.
Silence followed until Arvo spoke. "There is house, food… please. Please, I can take you." He said.
"Bullshit." Kenny barked.
"No, no! Is true. We have place. Not far. Food." Arvo insisted.
"See? He wants to help." Luke said.
"Oh, don't be stupid. He's just trying to save his skin." Kenny argued then turned his attention to Arvo. "Why the hell would you help us? Huh?"
"I… I not want see more people dead." Arvo replied.
"Then close your eyes and I'll make it quick." Kenny snarled.
"Kenny, back off!" Mike said.
"If he's telling the truth, it could save all of us." Bonnie said.
"We need the food. None of this will matter if we all starve to death." Clementine said.
"She's right, Kenny. We're running low on supplies as it is." Becca said.
"It's worth the risk to check this place out." Jane added. "Trust him, don't trust him, it doesn't matter. We should go anyway. We just need to be careful. It can't be far from here."
"You stay outta this! You're the reason these fuckers came after us in the first place." Kenny snapped at Jane.
"Don't try and pin this on me." Jane said.
"Chris, Anne, and I were there with her. It's our fault too."
"Clementine's right, Kenny." Anne and I said in unison.
"Think about the baby, Kenny." Emily said.
"If there are supplies, we need 'em. We ain't gonna last much longer without more food." Tess said.
"We gotta take a chance." Bonnie stacked on.
"Unless someone's got a better plan…" Jane offered up.
Kenny finally put his gun down, and I lowered mine.
Kenny sighed. "We got somethin' to tie this shitbird up?" He asked.
"Yeah, I got somethin'." Bonnie said then tied up Arvo's wrists.
"Follow me, I take you." Arvo said as she tied his hands up.
"Just gimme a reason." Kenny snarled.
"Yeah, man. He gets it." Luke said.
Anne and I walked with Jane and Clementine. Mike was helping Luke walk while Sarah walked with Kate and Ashley.
"Look… I know you're probably pissed about me leaving… when I heard the gunshots I… I knew it was mistake. If it helps, the thing I'd normally do is walk away for good… but I didn't." Jane said to Clementine. "Despite what my instincts were telling me."
"I'm not pissed… I'm glad you're back. I didn't want you to go in the first place." Clementine said.
Anne and I looked at Jane. "Neither did we. We trust you, Jane." I said, earning a nod from Anne.
"Thanks. That's… that's good, because you three are probably 90 percent of the reason I came back." Jane said. "And it'd probably get pretty annoying if you guys hated me all the time."
Anne smirked. "Wouldn't want it to be annoying." She said.
"No. That would suck." Jane said. "I'm gonna try to make this work. All I can do is… promise you I won't abandon you again. Which, to be fair, I've never done before… even though I probably should have… a few times now."
"You don't gotta point the gun at him the whole time." Mike said to Kenny.
"You forget what we just went through?" Kenny asked.
"He ain't goin' anywhere, Kenny." Bonnie said.
"No need to get your arm all sore." Tess said.
"I'm worried about Kenny." Jane said. "He's… he's in a dark place. We gotta keep an eye on him."
She ain't wrong. Kenny's not acting like himself.
"Everything he's been through… That he's lost… It's changing him." Anne said.
"Yeah… I've noticed that, too." Clementine said.
"Same here." I added.
Jane looked at Clementine. "You're the only one that he trusts. That he really trusts. That means you're the one that's gonna have to pull him back." She said. "He's counting on you. If we're really going to make this work…"
"I'll do my best." Clementine said.
Jane, Anne, and I smiled. "We know." I said.
Bonnie looked back at us. "Come on slowpokes!" She said.
The four of us walked back to the group and we all kept walking for some time.
That's chapter twenty-eight. Review and I'll post more chapters.