After setting up the campfire, Will and Allen called everyone out from the train.
The group sat down around a slowly spreading campfire. Lee smiled as he sat Clementine down on his lap, wrapping his arm around her front. "So, everyone holding up?" Will asked. "Ma'am, are you okay?"
"I'm fine thank you." She said. "Honestly, you all are making too much of a fuss, I'm two months in at most."
"You and the girl are the top priorities to protect," Joshua stated. "As stupid as this sounds, Clementine and that baby are the future."
"Nah, I get it. You're right." Omid said.
"Don't get used to me saying it, I try not to take myself that seriously." Joshua laughed.
"You and Omid should talk more." Christa giggled, rolling her eyes.
"Sorry about that, everybody," David said, walking out from the train, stamping his cane down on the floor with every step, he climbed down from the train and sat next to Joshua by the campfire. "How is everybody? Mason, you seem quiet."
"He's a little…uh…fragile…at the moment," Emily said, patting Mason on the back.
"I'm fine, just a little tired," Mason said.
"I'll admit, the train doesn't seem like the most comfortable thing to sleep in," Will said.
"Well, I'm sure sleeping in that thing should be interesting," Lee said.
"Didn't spend long in it before you got to the city?" Allen asked.
"Spent a good few hours on that thing before we stopped off, but not a night," Lee said.
"What about you, Clementine? Are you okay?" David asked.
"I'm okay," Clementine said with her usual happy smile.
"You've got to be bored, right?" Joshua said. "I remember I couldn't stand more than a minute at your age without having anything to do."
"I miss my coloring book, I guess. But I'm okay." Clementine said.
"Well, next stop, when we go searching for supplies. We'll see if we can find you anything." Lee said.
"We sure will. Right, let's get something to eat, hm? I'm afraid the menu isn't too exciting. We managed to nab some MREs from our base before we ran." Joshua said, walking over to the train.
"Base?" Christa asked.
"We all came from a small army base. At the start of everything, we let civilians in. But…we had to shut the gates to the public after an infected got in and took a bite out of a man." Will explained.
"All of you? What were you all doing there?" Omid asked.
"Well, I was stationed there with the Private. Josh was sent to the area after the infection started to get out of hand." Will said.
"I was visiting there, giving a lecture to a few cadets when things got completely out of hand." David sighed.
"What about Emily and Mason?" Clementine asked.
Joshua jumped down from the train carrying a handful of brown packets. He lay them down in front of the campfire and took his seat. "Well, about two days after these two turned up to the gates, Mason was carrying this-
"Allen," Mason said, looking at Private Allen sternly. "She doesn't need to know about that."
"About what?" Clementine asked.
"Nothing, sweetheart. It's alright." Mason said, making the widest smile he could muster.
"Look, we're all hungry, here," Joshua said, handing out the MRE packs around the group. "Let's eat."
"What is it?" Clementine asked.
"It's food." Joshua laughed. "You'll need to trust me on that one. You can just eat it. Doesn't need cooking."
Clementine attempted to tear open the packet, unsuccessfully. Lee scoffed and easily ripped open the packaging for her. She smiled up at him before sticking her hand in the packaging, taking out a large piece of dried up meat. "Look, it tastes good when you're hungry," Will said with a chuckle.
Clementine bit into the meat, attempting to bite the chewy, almost tasteless and tough meat apart. After several bites, she managed to eat the slice of meat. "What do you think?" Omid asked.
"It's…uhm…" Clementine mumbled.
The group laughed together. After finishing the food they all grew tired quickly. "Alright, I should get the kid to bed," Lee said with a smile, picking Clementine up and holding her close to him as he walked over to the train.
"Hm, me too," Christa said, poking Omid in the shoulder slightly. Omid rolled his eyes with a laugh, standing up before helping Christa onto her feet.
"Yeah, same. Mason, are you coming?" Emily asked.
"I think I'm just going to go for a little walk, I won't go out of sight of the train, promise," Mason said.
"Mason…I…" Emily sighed.
"I'll be moping around until I clear my head. I'll be back in ten minutes at least." Mason said.
"Alright…ten minutes, at most. I'm counting." Emily said, climbing up onto the train.
Mason sighed and stood up, walking parallel to the train tracks, thinking everything over in his head. He had never missed Catie or Shaun more in his life. Surrounded by people constantly reminding him of them, an adorable little girl and a romantic couple. What he once had and loved was now taken from him, he never knew how much it meant to him until he saw it again with other people.
Mason carried on wandering, glancing at the train every other minute to make sure it was still in sight. He was about to turn around and walk back when he heard a twig snap next to him. He jumped, instinctively pulling his gun from the holster under his shirt and pointed it in the direction of the noise. He couldn't quite see what it was, now that the sun had set, but there was someone there, an outline of a female figure stood in front of him, distanced into the dark forest either side of the train tracks. "Who's there?" Mason announced.
Mason felt something fly right next to his ear, he looked onto the floor behind him, seeing a shining golden bullet dug deep into the ground, he looked back into the forest, and after a split-second ran back over to the train as fast as he could.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter guys! Remember, if you liked it, leave me a review! :D