"Well, now that we're done with all of these introductions," Molly says as all five of us stand there awkwardly, "would you guys mind telling me why you tried to bring the entire walker population of Atlanta down on top of us?!"
"We didn't exactly plan on it going that way!" Jane retorts, folding her arms across her chest. "Those things are everywhere – the walkers aren't exactly easy to avoid, you know!"
"Etri and I have managed just fine with them so far. Then you three come to town and just rile them all up!" Molly argues before softening her gaze a little as she glances at me. "It's been a while though, hasn't it?"
"Sure has," I smile, not terribly surprised to run into her out here with everything that's been going on recently.
Molly hasn't changed much, aside from what she's wearing. Replacing her usual red sweater and jeans is now a green long-sleeved shirt and brown pants. Her signature hook thingy is still placed at her side, as always.
But I'm not too sure what to make of the guy she's with. Etrius, eh? Hmm, he seems friendly enough, I suppose.
I walk along with Molly as Lilly and Jane follow in behind, as Etrius makes sure that the door is fully secured before coming along as well. This apartment complex isn't anything special really – just a small kitchen, a bedroom and one bathroom on this floor. The complex is about three stories high, and according to Molly it's been a pretty suitable spot for the two of them to stay in.
"Why are you even out here?" I ask her as we climb up the staircase; our footsteps echoing around us as I see the brick walls surrounding us.
"I should be asking you the same thing," she answers with a shrug. "Savannah turned out to be a total bust after I left you guys, so I moved on to Macon before coming up to Atlanta. There are some grocery stores and other places along the streets that nobody's gone into – probably because it's so dangerous. But I manage, somehow."
"Okay… so how do you know this guy?" I question, motioning to Etrius with my head as he silently follows us upwards. Molly opens the door to the third floor before telling me.
"I was on my own, but… I may have gotten caught up in more than I could chew this one time. A big pack of walkers got the jump on me, and Etrius happened to be holding up in the same building I was in. We broke out of there, and that was that."
"You know you love me, Molly!" Etrius teases with a sly smirk as she rolls her eyes.
"In your dreams, idiot," she jokes before slowly remembering something. "So Lee…"
When I shake my head, Molly frowns and looks over at Etrius before shaking her head. Confused, I turn around to see that the guy seems really saddened about hearing this news.
"Shit…" he swears, rubbing his eyes together as he speaks. "I thought for sure he would've made it… Lee was a hell of a guy. I used to go up to his family's pharmacy all the time…"
Not really wanting to say anything about the man who saved my life on numerous occasions, I shake my head before dropping the bag and sitting in one of the chairs. Molly does the same, but Jane and Lilly still stand there with suspicious looks on their faces; as if they're waiting for the moment when Molly attacks or Etrius drives his sword through their stomach.
"We don't bite, you know," Molly remarks sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at how awkward they're being. "You can rest here for a little bit, but then I think it'd be best for you guys to move along. Trust me, having a big group out in the streets is really dangerous."
"Where were you all headed anyways?" Etrius asks, going over to the kitchen and starting to open a can of pears.
"Why does it matter?"
"Lilly…" I warn, giving stern looks to both her and Jane at how untrusting they're being. "They saved our lives, and I know Molly. Take it easy."
After about five more seconds of silence, Lilly reluctantly tells them "Texas" before staying quiet once again. Don't they ever get tired of being this way all the time?
"Texas? The fuck?" Molly says in disbelief, confusion written all over her face. "I hate to break it to you guys, but that's a bad idea. It's overrun – Dallas, Houston, Austin, every big city there. I heard it on the news a couple of years back, so going there is just gonna get you killed."
"Take a look outside," Jane instructs, pointing out the window as Molly and Etrius reluctantly oblige. "Now, tell me what you see out there."
"Biters," Etrius answers as if Jane's on crack or something. "You know? The things that were about to eat you all out there?"
"Walkers are everywhere – that's just the way the world works now," Jane comments, glaring at Etrius' sense of sarcasm. "It doesn't matter where you go, not anymore. Walkers are in every fucking state, city, town and village, so sitting around on our asses isn't going to do anything. Personally, I'd rather take a chance at somewhere warm and new than try our luck around here for another god damn year."
"These are the people you decided to travel with?" Molly asks me with a sigh as she returns to her seat. "You see this is why I prefer travelling alone… no offense, Etrius."
"None taken, baby cakes," Etrius chuckles as Molly shoots him a glare. Well, at least there's somebody around to keep things light with her. God knows she needs it every now and then, what with that whole Crawford situation a while back.
Lilly unholsters her gun for a second, scaring everyone and putting the two newbies on alert. However, I sigh when I realize that the woman's just trying to reload her weapon; pulling out the clip and grunting as she notices everyone staring at her.
"So… I'm guessing you'll be wanting to head out to Alabama then, right?" Etrius asks, more so to me than Lilly or Jane as he eyes them wearily. "How exactly were you guys planning on doing that?"
"We're looking for a car, if we can," I tell him as he passes the can of pears to Molly and eats the handful that he has. "You guys wouldn't happen to know if there are any around, would you?"
Glancing at each other nervously, Molly reluctantly nods before clarifying herself.
"Yeah… but it's ours," she explains, folding her hands together and stretching them out. "We keep it in the parking garage down below if we need to go on long runs, but it stays there. It's only for emergencies."
"Well, do you think we could – "
"No," Molly interrupts firmly, shaking her head as Etrius remains silent. "I'm sorry, Clem, but that's our getaway car. It's the only one we could find, and we need it."
"Sounds to me like that rust bucket's just collecting dust in your basement," Jane remarks as she too starts reloading a magazine into her gun. Realizing that I too am out of bullets, I walk over to her and start doing the same. Not a whole lot of these things left, so it's best to conserve ammo. "I'm pretty sure we could put it to better use, don't you think? We need to travel across like three more states just to get where we're going, and it'd be a hell of a lot safer with a vehicle."
"Tell me, why should we care again?" Etrius asks, not on board with the idea at all. Can't say I blame him on this one. "We don't know you people or what you're capable of! Besides, we found it fair and square! If you even think about stealing it, I swear to god I will run this sword straight up your – "
"Easy, easy," Molly soothes, realizing that she at least knows me and that I'd try to help her if the roles were reversed.
"You don't owe us anything, Molly…" I tell her solemnly, shrugging my shoulders as she considers her options.
Biting her lip, she looks at me for a few seconds before groaning and asking why she gets herself into these situations.
"Molly, you can't be serious! You can't just hand it over to them!" Etrius remarks as Molly waves her hand in an effort to calm him down.
"Clem saved my life, Etri. Back in Crawford… and I can't just abandon them now. Besides, I'm not just giving the thing to them," she explains, narrowing her eyes at Lilly and Jane before telling us what's up. "We can take you out of the downtown area, but after that you're on your own. In return… you give us one of your guns."
"WHAT?!" Lilly asks incredulously, throwing her hands up into the air. "You cannot be serious right now! We need our guns, and we'll die if we don't have them!"
"It's compensation for the ammo we had to use earlier," Molly shrugs; her posture giving off the array of a businesswoman. "It's either that, or you give us some of your food and supplies. We're running low again, and it won't be long before we have to go back out into the streets to find more. Seems like a fair deal to me."
"Just… let me talk it over," I explain, rubbing the bridge of my nose as I realize how this conversation's going to go. I bring Jane and Lilly over to the stairwell so that we can talk in private, as Etrius studies my face. He's probably wondering how a little kid like me ended up with a guy like Lee.
Anyways, I shut the door behind me as Lilly almost immediately tells us not to take the deal.
"This is such a rip-off!" she complains; pacing around so much that it looks as though she could tear a hole through the floor. "We barely have enough of this shit as it is, and we don't need a couple of chauffeurs to drive us out of Atlanta! If we're careful, then we can just walk out there with no problems."
"You saw how many of them were out there! If we try running, the only thing that'll happen is us getting our throats ripped out!" Jane exclaims gruesomely, as the picture of that makes me shudder. "Look, I don't like this either, but we can just give her a gun and get out of here safely. Giving them food is too risky."
"Oh yeah, and giving these strangers a gun isn't?!" Lilly scoffs as her voice echoes throughout the stairwell. I've been quiet for long enough, so I tell them both to be quiet before this turns into another heated debate.
"Jane's right, Lilly… We need a way out of here. We don't have a clue where to even go."
"Of course you'd agree with her," she sighs frustratingly, running her fingers through her brown hair. "You know, just because I haven't been around for very long doesn't mean that you two get to push me around all the time! I'm trying to keep us going, but you two just brush me off as if I'm a fucking fly buzzing around!"
"What is it going to take with you, seriously?!" Jane groans, smacking the railing with her fist in anger. "You think the whole fucking world is out against you, but guess what? It's against everybody! Nobody wants to hear any more of your whiny bullshit, Lilly! I've had it with you!"
"Umm… everything alright in here?"
The three of us turn around to see Etrius with his head awkwardly in the door, probably frightened after listening to the constant in-fighting between Jane and Lilly. This was actually pretty tame compared to past brawls…
"Just weighing our options," I sigh, looking towards Jane who gives me a shrug. "We're… gonna take your offer. We'll… give you a handful of food rations, and then you take us out of the city."
"Clem!" Jane hisses as I fold my arms defiantly. "That wasn't what we agreed on! What about the gun?!"
"We can find more food," I explain as we walk back into the apartment. Molly and Etrius look like they're ready to go. "A gun is a lot harder to come by."
With our permission, Etrius walks over to our bag and starts to inspect it; unzipping it and peering inside at our collection.
"You guys have been living off of fruit cups and granola bars?" he asks with disbelief, pulling out four bars and two fruit cups before zipping it back up. That seems like a bit much to be taking, but I keep my mouth shut as he hands me another can of pears. "Here, we've got enough of these for now… I don't want to just leave you with nothing."
"Thanks," I nod appreciatively as he gives me a small smile. "That's, uh, really sweet of you."
"Ha ha, yeah… that's what I'm here for," he jokes sheepishly, shrugging his shoulders as I giggle beside him. When Molly gives him a knowing look, Etrius turns red and gives her the finger before putting the haul safely away.
"Are we all set then?" Molly asks, still smiling as she nudges Etrius in the ribs. I'm really kind of confused right now – is there something on my face?
…..
Once we enter the parking garage below the apartment, I see the beaten-up, blue Dodge Caravan sitting haphazardly near one of the walls. Obviously the electricity no longer works, so the only way for us to lift the garage door is to do so manually.
It's not because I'm lazy that I don't really want to do this – it's that I'm not so sure what's on the other side of this thing.
"Etri, get ready," Molly instructs as she places her hook underneath the heavy metal door. "On three, ready? One, two, three!"
With a heave of might, Molly lifts the door upwards using the hook as a sort of leverage. Etrius takes his sword and jabs it through the head of a walker that was sitting right outside. He then takes some sort of medium-sized blade thing out from his backpack and tosses it at another walker; yanking the object back with a rope.
"Okay, no time for showing off!" Molly grunts as she releases the hook and hurries back to the driver's seat. Revving the engine, she steps on the gas pedal and drives out of the parking garage; running over a walker in the process.
As the three of us look towards Etrius questioningly, he simply shrugs his shoulders and says that the blade thing is called a kunai.
"What are you, some kind of ninja or something?" Jane asks sarcastically as I stifle back a snort. It kind of seemed that way to be honest.
"Nope… but I did kick ass as a black belt, though."
"That would explain some things," Lilly comments as she gazes out the window.
This city… it looks like it got hit by a nuclear bomb. Everything is run-down and decrepit, from the street signs to the hotdog stands to the shattered shop windows. Grass and weeds are starting to form in between cracks in the road, and loads of cars with dirty windshields are littering the sides of the street.
Even though it's been two years, this place still makes me gaze in wonder. How could the entire world have fallen like this? Where were all the army guys and police officers who were supposed to protect us? Did they know that something as horrible as this would happen?
"I hope you know what you're doing, Clem…" Jane whispers so that only we can hear. Etrius hears some murmuring, but he faces his head forward when he sees that it's a private conversation.
"I always know what I'm doing."
"Sure you do. And I'm sure you thought that burning all that stuff back at Howe's was a clever thing to do too, right?" she says with a neutral expression.
"How did you know…"
"I came downstairs while you were sleeping in the pen that morning," she explains, placing one hand under her chin as she watches the walkers go by. "I don't know why you did that, and it's totally your business… but you don't have to do things alone."
"But you said that sometimes it's better to be alone, remember?" I remind her, concerned that she found out about all that drama.
Looking at me out of the corner of her eye, Jane shrugs her shoulders. "A friend told me to stick around, so I did."
Knowing fully well that she's talking about me, I look down into my lap and stay quiet for the next little while. I really don't know what to say to that.
…..
"Well, this is as far as we go," Molly says, parking the car to the side and turning around to face us. "From here on out, you're on your own."
"Thank you Molly – you really helped us out," I tell her honestly before turning to smile at Etrius. "You too, that was really nice of you guys."
"Yeah, well, we were just in the neighbourhood, so…" he jokes, surprising me by giving me a one-armed hug. "Take care of yourself, Clementine."
Molly gives an "awwww" face as I embarrassingly break away from him, biting my lip and awkwardly shuffling out of the car. I wave goodbye to Molly as she takes off for the last time.
Lilly, Jane and I just stand there for a time; trying to figure out what to do next. We're in the right direction at least, since according to Etrius Alabama shouldn't be too far away.
But we're still just on foot.
"Keep your eyes peeled," Jane orders as all three of us take out our guns. "We'll check any cars that we come across, but always have somebody watching your back. The fuckers could be anywhere."
"Has anyone else noticed that nobody calls them zombies?" I quip, trying to lighten up the mood as we continue our journey west. "I've heard walkers, biters, creepy-crawlies, lurkers… never zombies though."
"This isn't like the movies, Clem," Lilly says simply as I sigh. I suppose it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, does it?
After at least half an hour of walking, the three of us finally make it to the Georgia-Alabama state line, with not very many walkers in sight.
"Must be our lucky day," Jane comments as she bends down to check over a pair of walkers. "These bodies seem pretty fresh. Clem, you know what to do."
Lilly keeps a look-out while I bend down to examine the body like a crime scene investigator. There's really not a whole lot on this guy, so… oh, hello!
"Found a gun and some rounds on this guy," I call out with a smirk, struggling to roll the body back over. "Did you find anything yet? Jane?"
"Stay where you are, or the lady here gets it!" yells out a crazy-looking fat man with a white golf-shirt, black dress shorts and a pair of black sneakers. I don't care about his appearance though, since he's got a gun lined up right against Lilly's head threateningly. The guy must've snuck up on her from behind.
"Drop it right now," Jane tells him harshly, her voice giving away no emotion other than determination. "This won't end well for you, big guy. Trust me."
"You shut your fucking mouth!" he snaps as he grips the back of Lilly's sweater tightly. "I ain't got no time for this bullshit! You give me everything you have right fucking now, or I'll put a bullet in her brain! I'll do it, I swear to god!"
"…No you won't," I say with narrowed eyes as Jane and Lilly both glance over at me. "You won't do it – you're alone out here, and you don't have anywhere else to go. So instead of trying to find food yourself, you felt like robbing three armed women. How is that a good thing for you?"
"You – you keep quiet, you little bitch!" he stutters, and I internally smirk as I realize that he's going to crack. On the outside though, I try to remain calm and egg this guy on a little more. If I can just get the right opening…
Jane seems to catch on to what I'm doing, and glares icily back at the scared man.
"How will this end well for you?" she asks as her gun never leaves its target. "We've got you outnumbered here, and nobody's around to help you. Did you honestly think this was a good idea?"
"GIVE ME THE FUCKING BAG, NOW!" he shouts as his voice cracks and sweat starts to form on his forehead. Messing with people's heads can work wonders if you're good at it.
But enough of this – Lilly's still in danger.
"I suggest you take your gun off of her before you really piss us off," Jane says as I inch closer. If I can just get the right angle on him…
And as soon as he notices what I'm trying to do, he takes his aim off of Lilly and fires a warning shot towards me.
He doesn't have the guts to pull a stunt like this off, and Jane capitalizes on this opportunity by outing a bullet into his shoulder. Lilly kicks him square in the junk as he collapses in pain.
"Fucking pig…" she states quietly before aiming her pistol at the man's head and firing it at him.
As soon as that's done, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and sit on the ground. That was WAY too close, and Lilly certainly doesn't look very pleased… with us.
"Jesus! Did you two want him to kill me?!"
"It was the only way for him to cave! You should be thanking us, actually!" Jane points out, even though I'm having a hard time agreeing with her statement.
What was I thinking?! Poking the bear is NEVER a good idea, especially when that bear has a gun in its hand.
"We're tough…" I try saying to lighten the mood again, "we can handle guys like this."
"It's not about being tough, Clem! A 250 pound, muscular bodybuilder might be tough, but he's still gonna go down from a bullet in the chest!" she explains dramatically, but I see her point. "There's no need for you to put yourself in harm's way… not to mention me as well!"
"I'm sorry, Lilly. It won't happen again," I apologize, bending down to look and see what this guy is carrying. I place his gun and ammunition in my bag, but scoff as I pull out two Rice Krispies squares out of his pockets. "He was lying! He still had some food on him!"
"Yeah, but for how long?" Jane chips in as the wind starts to pick up. It's gonna storm soon. "Two packs of food wouldn't last you more than a day, unless he had another stash somewhere."
Squinting my eyes, I tug his stained shirt and wipe some of the blood off of his name tag.
"George Foreman," I read, ripping the tag off and showing it to Lilly and Jane.
"Like the grill?" Jane asks cheekily as she receives an annoyed glare from Lilly.
Inspecting it further, I struggle to read the words very clearly – after all, the last grade I finished was first grade. However, I get the gist of it.
"He must've worked here," I explain, handing the ID to Lilly as she too examines it. "What's a… border patrol officer?"
"They pull over cars at this checkpoint here; make sure people pay the fee and aren't up to no good," Lilly explains, pointing to one of the checkpoint booths and the border patrol office right across from it. "Maybe they've got some stuff in there. Let's check the place out before moving on."
"Who named you queen again?" Jane asks as I scrounge through his shirt pocket. When I feel the metallic object between my fingers, I smile widely and pull it out.
Car keys.
As soon as Jane notices my discovery, she grins and starts to rapidly look around the border patrol. I place the treats in my backpack before narrowing my gaze to the horizon; shielding my eyes from the sun. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot here so far, but that's alright. Texas is what we're really after.
Things will be better there, I'm sure of it. It just has to be…
And when I hear Jane shout in victory and pull up in a green pickup truck, I can't help but chuckle as Lilly comes outside to see what all the fuss is about.
For once in our lives, things are starting to look up.
AN: Alright, thanks to kesarkuch for letting me use Etrius for a couple of chapters! He's pretty much a bad ass, so I definitely recommend checking him out in kesarkuch's story :)
As a side note, no, I won't be adding any more old characters from the video game to this story. Molly was the last one, as it'd be too much of a coincidence and wouldn't make much sense in this since they're going to Texas and all. Either way, thanks for reading and please toss a review!