The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind
Chapter 6: the RV
Hey everyone, Assassin here. Before we begin today's chapter, this is going to be the last update for a week or two. I am currently busy with some important work that I have to focus my attention on. I do love writing this stories, but I have to put my work as my priority first. I'm sure you all understand. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter.
Two days. Two long days the small group had been moving south in search of their dream fortress and so far, they had found nothing, but that did not mean that they were going to give up hope just yet. Nothing much had happened during their journey south. Nothing important anyway.
Lee, who was driving the truck, was forced to slow down when he noticed some obstacles in their way. On the road were a few deserted vehicles scattered across the road that were blocking their way. There was no way to drive around them either and no alternative road.
Lee stepped out of the car and looked ahead for any walkers, but no sign of the undead so far. He grabbed his Glock 17 though just in case things went bad.
"We got plan here?" Luke inquired as he stepped outside to, along with the others.
"We'll have to push them out the way, otherwise we're going nowhere." Lee answered, placing his hand over his eyes for a better view ahead. He could not see much from this position.
Bonnie climbed on top of the truck with a pair of binoculars and looked through them. She too did not see any walkers, but what she did see was something useful that caused her to whistle in delight. "Lee, there's an RV up ahead and it doesn't look like it's in bad shape. It might still work."
"Really?" Lee questioned, accepting the binoculars from Bonnie to take a look himself. He studied the RV from a distance and it looked very similar to the one they had at the motor inn. "It's right at the end too. Why don't half of us go check it out and the other half stay here?"
"Sounds good." Luke agreed.
Before they decided on who was going where, Sarah ran forward towards Lee and caught his attention. "Lee. Can I go with you too?"
Lee arched an eyebrow at first, but then he smiled lightly. "Sure Sarah, you can come and check it out. Just stay close to us, okay?"
"Okay, I can do that!" Sarah agreed, but then she remembered to not get as enthusiastic as usual. "Do I need a gun?"
"I don't think so, it looks pretty clear." Lee reassured. He turned back towards the others before walking away himself. "Clem, Sarah and I will go and check out that truck. You guys stay here and guard the truck. All of our stuff is in there."
"You got it, Lee." Luke agreed with a nod.
Lee returned the nod and proceeded to lead Clementine and Sarah towards the RV. As he passed each car, Lee noticed some of them had some dead bodies in the driver's seat, or at least they looked like they were dead anyway. Walkers had been known to sleep sometimes. Just to be certain, Lee opened up every car with an occupied corpse and stabbed them once in the head with a hatchet.
You can never be too careful nowadays.
After dispatching every corpse he could find, Lee approached the RV via the side door and prepared to open it while holding his trust hatchet. With one strong pull, the RV door opened and out dropped a corpse that would have knocked Lee down had he not moved out of the way in time.
"Shit!" Lee cursed, jumping back in surprise. He kicked the corpse a few times to make certain it was dead. When it did not move, he took it on the cue to move inside with Clementine following closely behind him with her Glock 17.
Lee carefully searched every part of the RV for any trouble, but everything looked clear. There was another room in the RV at the back which Lee assumed was a bedroom. He cautiously snuck towards it and knocked on the door a few times. This way if a walker was in there, he would know.
When nothing responded for the other side, Lee opened the door and raised his hatchet, expecting company, but to his relief, the room was clear and looked quite nice. It was a small place to sleep with only one bed. Now that it was declared safe, Lee proceeded to the front of the RV and climbed into the driver's seat.
"Does it work, Lee?" Sarah inquired as she took a seat beside him in the passenger seat.
"I hope so, Sarah." Lee replied while searching the RV for the keys. He thought he was going to have to high wire it, but then he located the keys in the compartment above him and turned them into the ignition to see if it worked.
Unlike the truck, the RV engine roared to life in a matter of seconds, but then it got cut off again. From where he remembered from Kenny is that the RV powers of a battery and without it, the RV is not going anywhere.
"Did it break?" Clementine inquired.
"No, I think the battery needs to be changed." Lee explained as he jumped out from the driver's seat and proceeded to look around for an extra one. "Stay here. I'll go and see if I can find one."
Clementine nodded and sat in the driver's seat with Sarah. All they could do for now was keep watch for any walkers and wait until Lee got the RV working. That's if he could get it working.
While Lee and the girls checked out the RV, Bonnie remained in the truck with AJ while Luke and Mike kept watch. Mike was standing in front of the RV with his arms crossed while Luke had decided to go and search some of those vehicles for anything useful.
Luke eventually returned from scavenging the cars, holding a guitar in his hand. He joined Mike nearby and set the guitar down near the truck. "I think Sarah might like this guitar. Carlos use to mention that she took guitar lessons before all this began."
"I'm sure she'll like it, Luke." Mike replied while he was looking around the area, expecting trouble of some sort. Nevertheless, he kept a cool head and scanned the area.
"I also found these." Luke announced, holding up a small medical kit. "Could help if any of us get hurt again."
"As long as it's not a walker bite." Mike responded, but his statement was more than obvious. A walker bite could not be cured under any circumstances.
At one point, the group of three looked up when they noticed Lee had returned from the RV and by the look across his face, he has success with getting the RV working. Bonnie stepped out of the truck with AJ sleeping in her arms as Lee approached them with the good news.
"It works?" Bonnie asked.
"Yep." Lee nodded and looked up towards the sky. "It's probably going to get dark soon. We should get our things and get moving-"
Lee was cut off from his sentience when the group heard rustling coming from nearby. He was quick to raise his Glock 17 while Luke and Mike raised their AK-47's and prepared to fire. They waited a moment or so to locate the source of the sound in the trees and bushes.
A moment later, a figure emerged from the bushes and into open sight, but it certainly no walker. The group looked somewhat surprised and slowly lowered their weapons as the figure approached them.
Lee was the first to speak after everyone else was silent in shock. "Jane?"
That's right; the familiar face was no other than Jane; a former member of Howe's and a former member of their group. She left a while ago without saying goodbye to the group (with the exception of Lee). What were the odds of seeing her ever again? Then again, what were the odds of finding Lilly last time?
"Hey everyone." Jane greeted and gave a friendly yet awkward wave.
"You're back?" Luke stated the obvious. He certainly seemed happy to see her again.
"I was passing by when I thought I heard you guys over here." Jane explained as she rubbed one hand against her arm. "I never thought I'd say this, but I'm glad to see you guys again. Is everyone still here? Where are Clementine, Sarah, Carley and Rebecca?"
"They're in that RV over there." Lee answered, nodding his head towards the mentioned vehicle. "...But Carley didn't make it. Neither did Rebecca."
"Oh...I'm sorry to hear that." Jane merely nodded in response to acknowledge that answer and gave her condolences. Then there was another awkward silence moment which the group were somewhat getting annoyed by. Did Jane just drop by just to say a quick hello before leaving again?
"So, I take it you're going again?" Bonnie assumed. She did not wish to sound mean and had no intention of being rude.
"Actually, I've been doing some serious thinking while I've been gone and I was wondering if I could join you guys again." Jane requested which left the group a little surprised. She usually preferred being alone as she believed people would turn on each other in this world for survival of the fittest.
"You want to stay with us?" Lee inquired to make certain he heard correctly.
"That's what I said." Jane repeated. "I know I was acting like a lone wolves and I have my reasons for that. I always assumed that all groups in this world eventually turn on each other, but I was wrong. Not you guys. You all stuck together no matter what and helped one another whenever possible. You're all a family together and I don't want to keep running alone. I want to and make it work with you guys. What do you think?"
There was another awkward moment of silence for the group as they needed a bit of time to process all of this. Lee turned towards the others, but neither of them had a responded. They did not look like they had any problem allowing Jane to join them again and thought it was a possibility to let her join again.
Lee came his own decision. He turned back towards Jane and offered her a smile. "You're always welcome back with us, Jane."
Jane raised a smile herself which was quite rare for people to see. "Thank you, Lee. I think we should get going. I think it gets dark soon."
"Amen to that." Lee agreed as they proceeded back towards the group to get their supplies.
The group proceeded to grab all of their supplies and boarded the RV where there was much more room than the truck. Thank the Lord they found this RV; otherwise Jane would have had no room to get in unless she wanted to sit on the back of the truck.
Clementine exchanged seats with Lee and was about to go and sit by the table, but then her eyes widened when she noticed a familiar face. "Jane?"
"Hey Clementine." Jane greeted with a nod. She actually felt happy to see the little girl again.
"You're back?" Sarah joined in as she walked beside Clementine.
"That's right, and for good this time." Jane reassured them. She knelt down to Clementine's height and to the young girl's surprise; she placed her hands upon her shoulders. "I'm glad to see you again, Clem. I knew you would still be alive."
Clementine felt a little awkward at first on how to respond, but she smiled and then nodded. "Thanks Jane."
After using one of their jerry cans to fill up the RV gas, the group all took a seat in the RV and off they went down the road to continue their journey to the south.
Rather than their usual silent trip, everyone was actually speaking and socializing for once, and not just about walkers, but about their old lives before the apocalypse, just like when they were gathered around a fire at that power station they stayed it once where they celebrated Luke's birthday.
Lee was still driving with Jane sitting beside him. Luke went into the bedroom in the back to rest up since his leg was still hurting from when he was shot, Clementine, Sarah and Bonnie were playing guards together while seated at the table and Mike was taking care of AJ. A good thing they still had baby formula to feed him.
"So Wellington was full to let anyone else in?" Jane concluded the story Lee was telling her.
"That's right." Lee confirmed with a nod. He turned back towards the others for a second but then turned back to face the road. "Clementine, Sarah and AJ were offered to stay in though. They didn't want to stay with people they didn't now and leave me. At first, I was a little mad but then I realized that they did the right thing. They look up to me as their father."
"They should, Lee, you're a great person to be with." Jane reassured him while she leaned back and crossed her arms together. "I haven't known you for long, but I've seen you do a lot of great things. You took a beating from Carver to protect us all, you showed me to care for others again rather than just myself, and you kept everyone safe no matter what."
"Not everyone." Lee reminded with a look of sadness across his face.
"I'm sorry, Lee, I know it's hard." Jane replied. She felt rather pushy of this next question, but she needed to know. "Lee, if you don't mind me asking...What happened to Carley and Rebecca?"
Lee remained silent for a moment and tried to prevent himself from crying. He missed Carley so much and would give anything to see her one more time. "We headed north but a group of Russians attacked us. They mentioned that you tried to take that kid Arvo's supplies."
Jane sighed as she felt a wave of guilt over here. She held her hands to her face. "Oh shit...It's my fault...It's all my fucking fault."
"It wasn't." Lee reassured which without a doubt left her surprised. "They were going to attack us regardless. All you did was piss them off some more. Truth be told, they deserved it."
Jane was certainly surprised to Lee's reaction, but she remained silent from this point and allowed Lee to continue his story.
"We got into an argument and threatened each other when Rebecca had died from blood loss, exhaustion and the cold. I had to shoot her because she came back and then everyone fired. I got shot, Mike got shot, and Luke got shot. We were able to win, but Carley got shot. It all happened so fast."
"...I'm sorry, Lee." Jane apologized. Despite Lee's reassurance, she still felt guilty. "Carley was a good person, she didn't deserve to die."
"No...She didn't." Lee agreed while he kept his eyes locked on the road.
Clementine, Sarah and Bonnie were all playing a game of Poker together. Bonnie didn't think kids of their age knew how to play, but she was surprised when they had a game together with some cards they found.
Sarah placed her cards down when it came to showing their cards to see who won. "I got a Three of a Kind."
"Full House." Bonnie declared, placing her cards down with a satisfied smile. "I think I win this time."
"I don't think so, Bonnie." Clementine replied with a grin. She revealed her cards next. "Four of a Kind."
Bonnie looked a little surprised and then smiled. "Clementine, I swear you're cheating."
"Hey, you gave me this jacket." Clementine reminded with smile. He opened her hand up and beckoned for her reward. "Come on, where's my reward?"
Bonnie looked a little disappointed for what they agreed. Since Clementine won, Bonnie had to give up her candy bar which was a Mars Bar. While they had plenty of supplies (including candy) this was the last Mars Bar, Bonnie's favorite candy. "Fine. Here, a deal's a deal."
Clementine accepted her reward and opened it up. However, rather than eating it, she split it in half and offered one half to Bonnie.
Bonnie smiled in response and accepted one half of the Mars Bars. "Thank you, Clem."
"Let's play Chase the Ace this time!" Sarah suggested as she grabbed the cards and shuffled them.
As the group continued to entertain themselves for a while, the night sky eventually took over and everyone needed some rest for the night. Since there was only one bed (which Luke was sleeping in) everyone got comfortable on the chairs and even on the ground.
Rather than driving at night when it was dangerous as they could not see where they were going, even with headlights turned on. Lee pulled the RV over and parked with the side door against a tree to prevent someone from sneaking in. He locked the driver's and passenger's doors and placed some curtains over the windows and windshield.
Now that they were safe for the night, Lee leaned back in his seat and got a good night's rest. No-one knew how long they had left to go to find that place of safety, but as long as they stuck together, they would find it no matter what.
And that's the end of this chapter, ladies and gentlemen. The group have switched into an RV and Jane is back with the group again, and this time, she is willing to give it a try to stay with a group once and for all. Stay tuned for the next chapter, but as mentioned above, I will be busy.