The Walking Dead: The Decimation of Mankind
Chapter 8: dark path
Hey everyone, how's it going? Having a good weekend? I know I am. Here's the next chapter of this story. And great news, Telltale have announced their next Walking Dead game: "The Walking Dead Michonne". Now it's not season 3 obviously, but I think this will be a great game considering that Michonne is one of the best characters on the show. Let's see how it goes, but until then, enjoy the chapter.
The group was silent as they continued their journey towards the south. Everyone was more than obvious to be worrying about Mike who was currently in the bedroom in the back with Bonnie attending to him the best she could. She may know a few things or two, but she was no doctor and was doing the best she could.
Lee focused on the road while he was driving with Clementine sitting beside him in silence. No-one was sure what to say to one another, it was like there were sitting in a church.
Finally, the bedroom door opened and out came Bonnie with a look of sadness yet relief across her face. Everyone with the exception of Lee, who was driving, gathered around her, eager to hear the news of their friend. Hopefully it was not the bad news they were expecting.
"How is he?" Luke inquired.
"The injuries the bear gave him weren't fatal, thank God." Bonnie answered in a relived tone. The others sighed in relief too and could now relax without worry. "He may have a big claw scar across his torso, but he's going to be fine. He'll just be resting for a few days before he can go out there again."
"Right." Lee nodded and proceeded to continue driving them south in search of that safe zone. "We better get a move on then."
Everyone got to their own activities for a while with Lee driving and Luke directing them with a map. Now that they knew Mike was going to be okay, no-on had to worry anymore and could put their minds at ease. This here was another sign why they had to be more careful in the future.
Lee was extremely worried out of them all. He could not imagine what would have happened if that bear had got Clementine rather than Mike. He probably would have...No; he wouldn't have gone that far. He was just grateful that both of them survived and that they were going to be fine.
As the sun prepared to tuck away for today and allow the night to do its job, Lee was about to pull over for them to rest for a while, but instead, his eyes widened slightly when he spotted a man walking towards the RV, waving his hands as if he were telling Lee to stop.
Luke noticed this too and grabbed his Glock 17 just in case. "Shit, is that someone on the road?"
"Looks like it." Lee replied as he proceeded to get up and go investigate in case this turned out to be a trap. "Come on, we'll go and check it out. Sarah, stay here and watch AJ. We won't be long."
Sarah nodded and took a hold of AJ who was sleeping already. Once everyone else was outside the RV, Lee closed the door behind them and prepared to take out his Glock 17 in case things went bad.
Lee had his Glock 17, Bonnie had an AK-47, Luke had a Glock 17 along with his machete, Clementine was unarmed and Jane had her knife and scratch awl. The man continued coming closer until he was in sight. He looked average age and was wearing a camouflage hoodie and pants with his hood over his face.
"Hey there." he greeted a little bit too friendly.
"Hey." Lee returned the greeting, but he was prepared for the worse. He had his hand at the back of his pants just in case. "What do you want?"
"Just wondering if ya'll could help me." he requested with his hands placed at his hips.
"Help with that exactly?" Luke asked with an eyebrow raised. He too had the feeling something was going to go wrong, but all he could do at this point was wait and see.
"Nothing much." the man assured with a nod. "All we want is your RV, your guns, and everything else you have."
Now this confirmed the man was trying to rob them. Lee swiftly took out his Glock 17 and aimed it at the man, but he was too late. Another four more men had emerged out of nowhere and took aim at the others with Glock 17's and one crossbow; quickly disarming them before they had the chance to even blink.
Lee turned around to see what was happening and realized he was outgunned. While he was not paying attention, the man he was aiming at had snatched the pistol out from his hands and aimed it at him.
"My, my, how the tables have turned." the man said with an evil grin across his face. "Now gentlemen, let's get to work, shall we."
The other men laughed as they moved in on the others. Two of them knocked their guns against Luke's face, knocking him to the ground as they proceeded to kick him and beat him down. One of them grabbed Jane and pushed her to the ground, pinning her down while the last one forced Clementine and Bonnie on their knees with their hands behind the back of their head.
The man laughed and pushed Lee down onto his news while holding his own pistol against him. "It's hard to trust people nowadays, isn't it? Now, let me tell you what's going to happen. I hope you don't mind spoilers. First, we're going to beat that guy to death, then we're going to rape the one in the yellow, then we're going to kill the ginger one, then the girl, and then last, we'll kill you. Sounds like a good plan, don't you think?"
Despite being held at gunpoint, Lee wanted nothing more than to hurt these people for what they did. If it weren't for his friends being in danger, he would've killed every last one of these sick bastards with his bare hands. "Let them go!"
"Let them go? Good one!" the man laughed in response and continued to hold Lee at gunpoint, preventing him from making a move.
Luke attempted to get up at a couple of times, but the two men continued to beat him down. He could not even grab onto his machete. The man attacking Jane pinned her down and was trying to pull down her pants in an attempt to rape her.
At one point, Bonnie attempted to grab onto the man that was holding her at gunpoint's gun, but he punched her across her face and knocked her back down. While he was distracted, Clementine attempted to grab him, but he pushed her back and kicked her in the face.
Lee witnessed this and was now more than angry. Nobody touched Clementine and got away with it as long as he lived. Finally losing his breaking point, Lee swiftly spun around and punched the man directly across his face, causing him to lose balance for a couple of seconds. As he lost balance, he simultaneously fired his gun right next to Lee's ear, causing a loud, pitched ringing in his hearing.
As Lee stood up and held onto his ringing ear, he attempted to punch the man again, but this time, the man pistol-whipped Lee across the face, causing him to fall back down.
"You motherfucker." the man grumbled as he gripped Lee by his neck and forced him back onto his feet. He slammed Lee against the RV and choked him with one hand while holding his Glock 17 against his head with the other. "Bad fucking mistake, you motherfucker!"
"I'm going to kill every last one of you!" Lee hissed as he kicked the man, but it did nothing but anger him more.
"Oh, yeah!?" the man snapped, calling his threat to be a bluff. He merely laughed in response. "What are you going to do about it then?"
As if he asked for his own downfall, Lee opened his jaw the most he could and bit onto the man's fingers, biting two of them off with his own teeth. The man screamed as he released Lee and clutched onto his bleeding fingers.
"AHHH!" he screamed in agony, falling down onto his knees. "My fingers! He bit off my fucking fingers!"
The other bandits looked shocked and were distracted from what they were supposed to be doing after witnessing their leader cry out like that. Taking the opportunity while they had their guard lowered, Bonnie gripped onto the man's gun a second time and forced it back towards him, shooting him directly through the jaw and skull.
Jane took out her knife and stabbed the man who was trying to rape her directly through the neck. She groaned as his lifeless corpse collapsed onto her and pushed him off.
Luke took out his machete and stabbed one of the men attacking him, stabbing him through the chest. Now only one henchman remained. He took out his revolver and aimed it at the others, but they could tell he was beginning to panic and did not know what to do to get himself out of this situation.
"Get back! Get back!" he warned, aiming his weapon at all of them. "I'll shoot!"
Lee, however, called his bluff. He picked up his Glock 17 and shot him through the brain without a second' hesitation. He turned back towards the leader, who continued to cry out in agony as he tried to stop the bleeding through his fingers. How the tables had turned towards him out of his favor.
"Motherfucker!" Lee growled as he picked him down and proceeded to beat him to death with his Glock 17, smashing his face in pieces.
After the others helped everyone else out, the group watched as Lee continued to beat down the man despite the fact he was more than dead by now. None of them dared interfered and continued to watch. Clementine was shaken up by this terrifying event and was comforted in a hug by Bonnie.
Lee finally finished beating down the man's corpses and stood up in exhaustion. Blood was smeared all across his face and clothes, but right now, he did not have a care in the world. Now that it was over, he finally took the opportunity to see what had happened.
The others were probably scared of him right now, and truth be told, Lee would not blame them. He was worried for them and did what he had to in order for survival. In this world, it's fight or die from now on, otherwise he'll lose everyone he has left with him.
"Lee..." Clementine whispered slightly. She had never witnessed him do anything this brutal and was beginning to get worried for his sanity.
Lee looked down towards the man whose face had been bashed in so much that you wouldn't even recognize him anymore. He did not want Clementine or anyone else to witness what he had done.
"Just go, Clementine." Lee told her while he had his back turned to her. "You don't want to see this."
Slowly, everyone else dispersed back into the RV, taking the bandit's weapons in the process. Lee remained outside for a man and sat down with his back against the RV with his hands placed against his face, thinking about the events that had just occurred. When he killed that man, he felt a monster inside of him that had been unleashed.
He had not felt like that since he caught his ex-wife cheating on him with that state senator. How he beat him to death with his bare hands. He never meant to go that far, he just let his anger get the best of him and had no control of himself. He thought he'd never have to go that far again for as long as he lived.
Hopefully everyone would understand what he did rather than fearing him from now on like he was a monster worse than the walkers.
When morning had arrived, the group made haste to continue their journey to the south. This time, Luke was driving with Jane giving him directions. Clementine was seated with Sarah and Bonnie at the table while Lee sat in the corner of the RV, sitting with his knees near his face.
At one point, Bonnie approached him with a bottle of water and a cloth since he sustained a couple of bruises last night when he got into a fight with the bandit leader. "Lee. Here, I thought you'd need this."
"Thanks." Lee thanked and accepted the water and cloth. He poured some water onto the cloth and rubbed it against his face where he still had some blood smeared across his face.
"How are you feeling anyway?" Bonnie inquired as she knelt down to him in concern.
"I don't know how I feel, Bonnie." Lee admitted, shaking his head in confusion. "What I did last night-"
"Lee." Bonnie cut him off and caught his attention. "What you DID last night saved us all. If you hadn't done what you did, we all would have been dead. We owe you our lives, Lee."
"I just wish it could have been handled better, that's all." Lee explained. He felt incredible disgust in himself. "I bit his fingers off, for fuck's sake."
"Listen to me, Lee; in this world that we're in, we have to do what it takes to survive." Bonnie reassured him. "No-one here is mad at you or scared of you, I promise. Just take some time to rest up. We need each other, Lee, especially now."
Lee nodded and processed everything that Bonnie had just said to him. It helped a little, but in time, he would recover fully. "Thanks Bonnie."
Bonnie nodded in return and proceeded to go and take care of AJ for a while and feed him with their baby formula.
Now that he was feeling better, Lee stood up and approached the front of RV with Luke and Jane, making simple conversation with them. "Hey. How's it going up here?"
"So far, so good." Jane answered as she kept her eyes focused on the map to avoid them making a wrong turn somewhere. "Luke, do a left at this next road."
"I'm on it." Luke assured, calming turning the RV to the next road. He had never learned how to drive before the apocalypse began but he had taken lessons from his father a few years back and so far, those skills were turning out to be useful.
"Anything on the map that looks promising?" Lee asked Jane.
"We're thinking of heading this way down here." Jane answered, tapping her finger against the mentioned area. "Looks promising to me."
"We'll check it out." Lee agreed with a nod. He offered Luke to rest for a while and he would take over. "Luke, why don't you take a break? I'll drive."
"Sure thing." Luke agreed. Truth is, he was worried about crashing and destroying their only means of transportation. He got out the driver's seat and swapped places with Lee.
Lee sat down and began to drive towards south. He tried to keep his mind off of what happened the previous night. If the group were not mad or afraid at him for his actions, then why couldn't he stop thinking about it? He hoped he could take his mind off it somehow.
Lee dazed out from his thoughts when he heard Jane calling his name. "Huh? Oh, sorry. What did you say, Jane?"
"I said make a left on that turn you just past." Jane repeated with a somewhat annoyed expression.
"Oh." Lee nodded as he turned the RV around. "Sorry about that."
"You okay?" Jane inquired in a concerned tone. She immediately figured out what was wrong just by looking at him. "Let me guess: is about it last night."
"You read my mind." Lee answered as he shook his head a second time. "Last night as like I was a whole different person. I was like an animal out there. I bet off that guy's fingers like a walker."
"Lee, you saved us last night." Jane assured, repeating somewhat similar words as Bonnie moments ago. "This world has made all of us do some crazy shit. I wouldn't blame you for what you did. One of those fuckers tried to rape me, for fuck's sake. Look, we find that somewhere safe and then we can finally put all this bullshit behind us. We can start again."
"I hope so, Jane." Lee agreed. For now, all he wanted to do was drive in silence for a moment and hope to put last night's events behind him like Jane suggested. It may be difficult, but in this world, it's fight for survival against humans and walkers no matter the circumstances.
I think it's safe to say that this was certainly a dark chapter. Lee's dark side was brought out in this episode and forced him to use deadly and brutal means to survive. Let's hope that he will not have to repeat the events that happened on this chapter. Chapter 9 coming soon.