The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind
Chapter 5: escaping Howe's
What up, everyone, Assassin here and here's the next chapter as promised. I checked the reviews and was surprised to see that a lot of them were left by the same guest reviewer. Not what I expected, but nevertheless, it's still more than 10 reviews. Here's the chapter, enjoy.
Lee poke his head around the corner of the car he was taking cover behind and fired a few rounds from his Glock 17, but each round missed. All it did was cause them to duck back in cover again. Every second they wasted fighting this group the walkers were getting closer.
The leader of the factions was going frustrated just sitting here and shouted to one of his men. "You! Get out there and flush them out!"
"No way!" he refused while blind firing towards the building.
"NOW!" the leader ordered, screaming at the top of his lung.
Seeing that he would get killed by his leader if he didn't cooperate, the man picked up his AK-47 and slowly marched towards Lee, all while shooting towards him. Despite being in the open, Bonnie was unable to get a shot due to the rest of the group firing her way.
Lee kept his head down but was unaware that someone was heading his way. If he leaned up, he would get shot, but he stayed down, then that man would eventually get to him and shoot him. If he was going to think of an idea to get out of this situation, then he would have to think fast, otherwise he was doomed.
After a moment of thinking, Lee was out of ideas and had no choice but to engage first. He gripped his pistol and took a deep breath, preparing to fire. The man was now only a few feet away. As Lee prepared to jump up and fired, he stopped himself when a sniper shot echoed throughout the air.
Lee arched and eyebrow and leaned out of cover to see the man who was marching his way was now lying motionlessly on the ground, blood spilling from his skull. Lee looked up towards the roof and smiled in relief to see Clementine standing on the roof, armed with a sniper rifle.
Despite the fact he told her to protect Sarah and AJ just in case things went bad, he never felt more relieved to see her face. She saved his life yet again. Now only the leader and one of his henchmen remained.
The other henchman was beginning to panic as he struggled to reload a clip into his pistol. The worst fears began to race around his mind that caused him to panic further by the minute. "We're fucked! I'm getting out of here! I'm not dying here, not today!"
He jumped up and began running away from Howe's, desperate to escape despite being out in the open and vulnerable to gun fire.
"Hey, get back here!" the leader ordered, but his yells did not work. If it weren't for this firefight, he would have shot him himself. "Fucking pussy!"
On the roof of Howe's, Mike picked up a pair of binoculars and kept his head down while keeping an eye on the man who was running into the distance. "One of them is getting away!"
"I got him." Clementine assured as she held the rifle up and closed one eye, aiming through the scope. She did not have much experience using a rifle and thought using one would knock her down, but she was handling herself well without much effort.
Once she got a clear aim on the running man, she fired and in seconds, he fell down onto his stomach. Only the leader remained, but Clementine was too focused on the walkers in the distance that left her alarmed. She lowered her rifle and his eyes widened. "Oh, shoot."
"I see them too." Mike agreed, beckoning for Clementine to follow him back downstairs. "Come on, we got to move, now!"
The leader of the faction reloaded his AK-47 and stood up, firing aimless towards both Bonnie and Lee, but he was unable to get a clear shot on either of them. He screamed out threats while he continued to shoot in their direction. "Fuck you all! I'll take you all down myself! Fuck you! Fuck you! FUCK YOU!"
Lee looked up and noticed a small group of walkers were approaching the man who was completely unaware of the danger behind him due to the amount of gunfire. There were a lot more walkers, but fortunately, they were quite far away to be a major danger yet.
"Fuck you! I ain't dying!" the leader shouted while he finally ceased fire to reload. Now that the gunfire had died down, the leader heard the familiar sounds of walker groans behind him. He swiftly turned away and whacked one walker down with his gun, but the rest of them gripped onto his arms and pinned him down to the ground. "NO! NO! AHHHHHHH!"
He screamed out in agony as the walkers ripped open his stomach with their bare hands and proceeded to eat his intestines. The fight was over between the two groups and now they had to leave right now before things got bad.
Lee stood out of cover and fired a few rounds to take down the small group of walkers while they were too busy devouring the man. Now that they were dead, he quickly ran back inside of Howe's where they joined the others.
He knelt down and hugged Clementine in a quick embrace. Lee leaned back and placed both of his hands upon her shoulders, looking into her golden eyes. "Good shot, Clementine."
Sarah was holding AJ and standing next to Mike. Luke appeared from the next room while he had one of his hands pressed up against his shoulder. This left the group to grow concerned and raised curious eyebrows.
"Bonnie." Luke called out while he held his hand against his bleeding shoulder. "I, uh, got a problem here."
"Oh, no." Bonnie gasped slightly and proceeded to go and help him. She escorted him to a chair and sat him down. "What happened? You weren't bit, were you?"
"No, no, no, I got shot." Luke explained as Bonnie helped him take off his shirt to take a look at his wound. "Hurts pretty badly. Being shot in the leg and the shoulder isn't fun."
Bonnie expected his sound and tried her bust not to hurt him further, but she had no choice if she wanted to inspect his wound further. "The bullet went straight through. We should be able to stich this up and bandage it when we're on the road."
While Bonnie attended to Luke, Lee ran back outside and looked off to the distance. The horde of walkers was heading directly for them. In around 5 minute's tops, they were going to overrun them. They had to get out of here now before it was too late!
"Fuck, we got to move!" Lee shouted while running back towards them for assistance. "Quick! Quick!"
Mike was quick to enter the truck in the driver's seat and attempted to start the engine, but when he turned the keys into the ignition, the engine only rattled in response. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
"No! No!" Lee yelled, placing his hands upon the sides of his head. "Fuck!"
"Lee, those walkers are coming!" Bonnie stated the obvious.
Lee quickly reloaded another clip into his pistol and began to issue out orders to everyone. They had no time to waste and had to get a move on, for the sake of survival. "Mike, get that car started no matter what! Clementine, help Mike out. Sarah, watch AJ. Bonnie, Luke, with me! We'll try slowing them down. Go!"
Everyone dispersed into separate directions to follow out their issued orders. Lee, Bonnie and Luke ran outside to slow down the walkers; Mike tried to get the truck working with Clementine's assistance. Sarah got into the truck via the front seat with AJ sleeping in her arms. Thank the Lord he had no idea what was going on.
A small group of the walkers were already upon them and headed straight towards them. They groaned as they limped towards the three humans, desperate for a tasty human meal. This was going to be a challenge with just the three of them holding them back.
Lee picked up an AK-47 that was just resting on the floor and swiftly picked it up. He picked it up and fired almost all of the rounds, taking down a group of walkers heading their way.
There were a lot more of them heading their way though, mainly from the north of them rather than the east or west. Lee fired more rounds towards the walker coming from the sides. This way they had an escape route rather than just being cut off.
Luke decapitated a walker's head with his machete.
Bonnie kicked a walker in its leg to bring it down before crushed its head with the butt of her gun.
Meanwhile, Mike and Clementine desperately tried to get the truck started as fast as possible. Mike fooled around with the engine while Clementine sat in the driver's seat and would turn the ignition every time Mike asked her too. So far they were getting nowhere.
"Come on!" Mike shouted, leaning back out from the engine. "Clementine, try it now!"
Clementine turned the keys in the ignition, but the engine only rattled in response. "No good!"
"Shit!" Mike cursed, slamming his fist down onto the engine.
Sarah was looking extremely nervous and watched through the windshield of the truck as the walkers moved towards them. She felt like crying again and pleading for her father like when she was trapped in the trailer, but for the sake of AJ and the others, she remained calm and took a few breaths.
Lee backed away and whacked his gun against another walker, knocking it to the ground. He backed away with Bonnie as they continued shooting the closest walkers, but regardless of how much they tried, they just kept coming from the north.
After messing around with the engine a few more times, Mike jumped into the driver's seat and turned the keys into the ignition a few times, but the engine continued to rattle in response. "Come on! Start! Start, you piece of shit!" he continued to turn the keys, but the engine refused to start. Finally losing his usual calm attitude, Mike screamed out and whacked his fist against the dashboard. His angered expression turned into a happy one when the engine roared to life. "Ha-ha!"
"Mike, you did it!" Sarah praised.
"Yeah, I did!" Mike replied, but there no time for celebration. "Clementine, get in the truck!"
Clementine jumped into the backseat of truck as Mike drove outside. He honked the horn a few times to gain the other's attention while Clementine opened the back door and beckoned for them to come in.
"Get in!" Mike ordered, honking the horn a few more times.
"Bonnie, time to go!" Lee replied, patting her shoulder a couple of times. However, before they left, he noticed Luke was not with them. "Where's Luke?"
Bonnie turned around and saw Luke taking down a few walkers with his machete a few feet away.
Luke took out his Glock 17 and shot down the advancing walkers, but due to the amount of gunfire, he was completely unaware of a single walker sneaking up behind him.
"Luke!" Bonnie screeched in an attempt to warn him.
Despite the gunfire, he heard Bonnie screaming his name and swiftly turned around just in the nick of time when the walker almost took a bite out of him. He grabbed onto the walker's shoulders and wrestled with it to prevent it from biting him. "Fuck! Shit!"
Bonnie lifted her AK-47 and lined up a shot at the walker trying to attack Luke. She closed one eye while trying to fast, knowing this was a risky move she was making. She pulled the trigger and fired and a second later, the walker collapsed down and blood was smeared across Luke's face.
Luke panted and quickly ran towards the others towards the truck just as the walkers were closing in on their position. Lee, Bonnie and Luke jumped into the back of the truck and once the door was closed, Mike stepped on the gas and drove away from Howe's and onto the main road.
The group looked back towards the walkers as they were invading the inside of Howe's. Everyone sighed in relief and took a moment to rest after everything that had just happened. They were extremely lucky to have made it out from Howe's unscathed. With the exception of Luke being shot, everyone was fine.
"Jesus, that was close." Bonnie sighed, leaning back in the seat.
"You don't have to tell me twice." Lee agreed, rubbing his hands through his hair. "Mike, drive for ten minutes, then we need to pull over."
"Why?" Mike inquired while he kept his eyes locked on the road.
"Luke needs to get his wound stitched up, and we should switch seats." Lee answered as he tried to get comfortable. "In case you didn't notice, we're all a bit cramped here. Clementine and Sarah should get in the back with Bonnie and Luke. You and I will ride shotgun."
Mike seemed satisfied with that answer and continued to drive through the open road.
A few minutes later, the group pulled over like Lee instructed and exited the vehicle. While everyone else kept watch, Bonnie got what was left of their medical supplies and began to sew Luke's wound back together. She tried her best not to her him, but it was difficult.
"Shit, that hurts." Luke groaned, but he was relieved to feel the pain easing.
"Quick crying." Bonnie ordered as she grabbed some bandages and wrapped them around his wound.
Lee stood on top of the truck and kept an eye out for any walkers in the area, but everything seemed peaceful so far. He looked towards Clementine, who was studying the area with a Glock 17 in her hand. "Clementine?"
Clementine turned towards Lee and looked up. "Yes?"
"...Good shot, sweet pea." Lee praised with a smile.
"Thanks Lee." Clementine thanked with a nod.
"I didn't know you could use a rifle, Clem." Sarah spoke up while she was still taking care of AJ who was sleeping in her arms. "It was so cool."
"How did you know how to use a rifle, Clem?" Lee inquired as he jumped down from the truck. "I don't remember teaching you that."
"You didn't, I just acted on instinct really." Clementine explained, shrugging her shoulders in response. "I thought it would be time to learn when I grow up more."
Lee seemed satisfied with that answer and decided to go and check on the others. Luke finished putting his shirt and holster back on now that his injury was attended to. Now that they get moving and try to make as much progress as possible before the weather turned dark.
"Let's get going, everyone." Lee announced while climbing into the driver's seat.
Everyone got into the truck and was able to all squeeze in. Lee and Mike sat in the front while Clementine, Sarah, Luke and Bonnie all sat in the back. They were still a little bit cramped, but it was better than walking.
"If we can, we might be able to find a better vehicle." Luke suggested as the truck began to move down the road.
"Maybe a truck or an RV." Lee agreed. He checked his rear-view mirror to see they still had all that extra gas in the back for them to use in case they ran out. Maybe they could even scavenge some more cars from any vehicles they came across along the way.
Now that they were on the road, it was time to make a plan. Mike located the map of the area in the glove box and checked for anything useful they could find on their way south.
"You still thinking about Mexico?" Lee asked Mike.
"You mentioned we'd call that'd be a back-up plan in case we didn't find anywhere to fortify." Mike responded while opening up a bottle of water. "Let's just see where we get to first."
Lee nodded and continued driving down the highway in search of that one place that existed out there. That one place that would forever keep them safe from the walkers and bad people for the rest of their lives. They had to keep moving no matter what.
It was their only chance for survival now.
And that's chapter 5, ladies and gentlemen. The group of survivors are on their road again and have allowed Howe's to be taken over by the walkers. Stay tuned for chapter 6.