The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind
Chapter 2: on the road again
Yo, what up everyone, we're back with the second chapter. Thanks for the feedback on chapter 1, glad to know you guys and gals are enjoying the story so far, even though this is only the beginning. Enjoy chapter 2.
Once early morning had arrived, Lee made the decision that they should get going now while they had daylight and was not walking into anything blindly. He proceeded to lead the way back to the truck they arrived in which still had some gas to get them quite some distance and if they could make it to that gas station they saw on the way here, they were good to go.
Lee approached the truck and noticed a single walker looming around the area until it noticed fresh meat and proceeded to try and attack them. Lee raised his hatched and easily killed the walker, kicking it's lifeless corpse down into the ground.
The snow was beginning to clear up which would mean less weather conditions and safer roads to drive in.
Lee checked their truck before getting inside to make sure no-one had decided to get inside and sleep for the night. Once it was clear, he opened the doors for Clementine, Sarah and AJ. "Get in the truck, girls."
Clementine got into the front passenger seat while Sarah got into the backseat with AJ sleeping in her arms and their supply bags beside her.
Lee got into the driving seat and was about to star the engine, but instead, he sighed and lowered his head.
"Lee, what's wrong?" Clementine inquired curiously.
"I don't know what we're going to do now, girls." Lee admitted with a slightly sad expression. "We came all this way, only to be told that we can't go inside. Fuck!" he slammed his fist into the steering wheel, startling Clementine slightly. "I don't know what we're going to do now. We don't have a plan."
"Lee, we always have a plan." Clementine reassured him. Lee was the smartest person she knew and always got them out of a bad situation. "We can't just give up. We have to think of something."
Sarah remained silent, deciding not to get involved in their conversation.
"If you have a plan, I'D love to hear it!" Lee sarcastically replied, somewhat snappy. However, once he calmed down, he sighed regretfully. "I'm sorry, Clementine, I just feel like we wasted so much time."
Clementine accepted his apology, but she was still determined to think of something. She opened up the glove compartment and located a map that peaked her interests. She opened the map and after reading some of it's contents, her expression lit up like a light bulb. "Lee, you know if we keep following the main road, we'll eventually reach Howe's."
Sarah's hopes raised when she heard this. She would love nothing more than to see the rest of their group again, especially Luke.
"Really?" Lee questioned, earning a mere nod in response. He accepted the map and confirmed she was right. "You're right. Well, if there's a chance they're still there, we have to take it. We've lost too many people...We have to stick together. We're all that remains."
"I think that's the best thing to do as well." Clementine agreed, turning around to face her older friend. "What do you think, Sarah?"
"I want to go to!" Sarah agreed a little too enthusiastic. "We need more people."
"Then it's a plan." Lee confirmed, finally able to raise a smile. He turned the keys into the ignition and off they went, setting course straight for Howe's Hardware.
It took them nine days to reach Wellington, and the reason for that is because they had to drive all around Ohio until they located it, but now that they knew the way there and back, they could get there in less time, possibly in a six-seven days. Either way, if that gas station had gas, then that was a definite.
Since they had a long time before they made it to Howe's, they might as well make conversation to pass the time for a while with Clementine begin the one to start one.
"Lee, how did you escape the horde of walkers?" Clementine inquired out of the blue.
"I killed them all, Clem." Lee answered as if it were obvious.
"All of them?" Sarah questioned. "But there were, like, a lot of them!"
"I know, but I was just so angry, so determined, so..." Lee trailed off and shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I dealt with them and I'm fine. Now, mind if we talk about something else?"
"Sure...I guess..." Clementine skeptically agreed. "We could play a game. Anyone up for a game of I spy?"
"Might as well." Lee replied as he scanned his surroundings. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with...G."
Clementine and Sarah took turns guessing with Lee answering each one of their guesses.
"The grass outside?"
"Nope."
"The green bags?"
"No."
"AJ's blanket." Clementine guessed.
"That's the one." Lee confirmed with a nod. "You're turn, Clem."
"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with W." Clementine hinted with a sly smile.
"The window?" Lee suggested.
"Nope." Clementine shook her head.
"The white clouds?" Sarah asked, pointing outside their truck.
"Uh-uh." Clementine replied.
"The windshield?" Lee guessed.
"Bingo." Clementine nodded. This was actually turning into a pretty fun game.
The small group continued playing some games for a while to pass the time until they eventually made it to the gas station that they passed on their way here. Lee checked how much ammunition he had left in his Glock 17 and was somewhat worried to see he only had one round left.
"Clementine, how are you on ammo?" Lee asked his adoptive daughter, who was standing beside Sarah.
Clementine took out her pistol and checked the capacity. "Just one round left."
"Me, too." Lee replied, placing his gun into the back of his jeans. "We need the ammo. You two stay here, guard the truck. I'll be right back."
Lee took out his hatchet and slowly proceeded towards the gas station. He checked the fuel pumps, but unfortunately, without power, they could not fill it up that way. Lee proceeded inside the building and carefully scanned the inside for any walkers.
He opened the door and knocked his hatchet against the door a few times before taking a step back. After a couple of moments, Lee could confirm that there was no walkers inside and decided it was safe to go in.
Fortunately for Lee, his luck was beginning to turn in his favor. There were jerrycans filled with gas and better yet, a M1987 Trench gun was hanging behind the counter.
"What do we have here?" Lee spoke to himself as he proceeded towards his new weapon. Hopefully, it was not a replica.
As Lee got behind the counter, he felt something grasp his ankle tightly that caused him to stumble down. He groaned and quickly tried to escape from the walker that was trapped under the counter.
"Get the fuck off me!" Lee yelled, kicking the walker a few times in an attempt to free himself.
The walker only groaned in response.
Lee searched for his hatchet that was lying a couple of feet away from his hand. He reached out his arm to grab it, all while trying to keep the walker from biting him.
After some effort, Lee finally reached his hatchet and leaned forward, stabbing the walker directly in the center of it's brain.
"Motherfucker." Lee breathed in relief and stood back up, panting a little in the process.
This was a sign for him to get out of here fast. He quickly grabbed the shotgun from the wall and to his relief, this was no replica, and on the counter shelves was a box of shotgun shells. He opened the box and smiled when there was more than enough shells inside.
Lee strapped the shotgun onto his back and grabbed all the jerrycans, quickly leaving the gas station and running back to the girls and AJ.
"We got gas." Lee announced as he placed all but one jerrycan onto the back of the truck.
"And a new gun by the looks of it." Clementine added with a smile.
After filling up the truck with full gas, the group got back into the truck with Sarah sitting in the front this time and Clementine in the back with AJ still sleeping in her arms.
"Things are looking up." Clementine declared as Lee started the engine and began to drive down the road. "We got a lot of gas and a better gun."
"What about the other gun?" Sarah inquired.
"What other gun?" Lee asked with an eyebrow raised.
"The gun in the bag." Sarah replied, now feeling a little uneasy. "So-Sorry! I saw it when I got some food, and then-"
"Hey, hey, it's okay." Lee assured, patting her shoulder a few times to calm her down. "You did nothing wrong. Relax."
Sarah did that and took a few breaths until she had calmed down.
Clementine searched into the bag Wellington had given them and found a six round revolver. "Not the best gun in the world, but it'll do."
"What's the difference?" Sarah inquired. To her, a gun was a gun.
"Every gun has it's own unique design and, Sarah." Lee explained while he kept his eyes focused on the road. "Take that shotgun I just found. It's powerful, but not that good if we try to shoot a walker from long range."
"Oh." Sarah nodded and tried to understand the best she could. If she was going to learn how to use a gun properly, then she could need to know everything there was to know. "Lee, will you...Will you still tech me how to use a gun when we get to Howe's?"
"Of course I will." Lee reassured with an assuring smile. "I'll teach you in no time. I taught Clementine how to use her first gun in no time. Well, Carley did..."
He trailed off and closed his eyes for a few seconds. He was still in deep mourning of his girlfriend, the woman he loved. What hurt him more is that it was not even the walkers that killed her, it was people. They live in a world where the dead have taken over and they should be working together to survive, but instead, here they are, fighting each other instead.
Lee tried to keep his mind focused on something else for now before he let his emotions get the best of him. "We should think of a plan B, you know. In case we don't find the others."
"We're not going to find them?" Sarah assumed.
"I didn't say that, Sarah." Lee reassured. "But we have to have a back-up plan just in case they are not there. I'm open to suggestions right now."
There was silence for a moment. Regardless of if they found the others or not, they still needed another plan afterwards and a back-up plan.
"What about the cabin?" Clementine suggested out of the blue. "It's not that far from Howe's. We could go back there."
"That sounds like a good idea, but we don't know what way." Lee reminded, but then it occurred to him that they still ha done cabin group member left with them. He turned to Sarah sitting beside him. "Sarah, you were with your group when you escaped Howe's the first time. Do you remember the way?"
Sarah had to think about that question for a moment. It had been quite a long time since they first found the cabin, but she was confident that she would remember once they remember. "I think so. Yeah, I'm sure I remember! I think it was to the South."
"Well, we got a few days so you got plenty of time to remember." Lee reassured, but he had to admit that he would be pretty bored during that time. He pressed his foot a little harder against the gas, picking up speed."
"What's the rush?" Clementine asked when she felt the increase of speed.
"No rush, but no reason to drive slow anymore, right?" Lee answered with a slight shrug.
"Unless walkers give you tickets." Clementine joked with a smile.
This caused the three of them to laugh slightly at Clementine's joke. This was probably the first any of them laughed in a long time. It felt nice for things to feel normal again, probably would have felt nicer if they were granted access to Wellington.
Still, it was nice having the dream while it wasted, but there only hope now was to find the others and make a better plan. There were only three purposes now for the group: to find the others, to find shelter and most importantly...
To survive.
And that's chapter 2 completed, ladies and gentlemen. The remaining survivors are on their way to Howe's in hopes of meeting up with the other survivors. Let's wish them luck.