Okay so, I took a bit of a risk and decided to write a chapter on the traveling that occurs which isn't seen in the game during those 5 days. Let me know what you think.
TWD Chapter 9 - Keep walking on.
Two days after leaving the cabin...
"I-I need to rest." The group turned to see an exhausted looking pregnant lady, being guided by her husband whilst trailing behind the rest of them. At the minute, they were in the middle of the woodlands with no obvious opening, and no place to stay.
Everyone came to a stop, whilst mulling over what to do next. Luke spoke first. "Okay, it's gettin' dark anyway, so we'll have to be quick if we want to find somewhere to rest for the night. Oliver, you up for some scoutin'?"
Olly smiled at the pet name and then nodded, readjusting her cap. "Sure, Lucy."
"Can I come?" Both Luke and Olivia turned to face the brave little girl looking up at them with her big puppy eyes.
"Not today, Clem." Her smile visibly fell and Luke instantly felt guilty. Carlos nodded in approval to him which just made it worse. Luke knew Clem could handle it. She was tough.
"We'll take you next time, okay? Lord knows you can handle yourself, but two people is enough for this job." He received a nod of appreciation from her, which allowed him to relax. "Okay, you ready? We're burnin' daylight." Olly indicated she was with a dip of her head and then they set off further in to the trees.
Olivia tried to take in as much as the scenery as she could, to ensure they would be able to find their way back. "Think we'll find any place?"
Luke shrugged. "Not sure, but even if it's just a clear, safe area where we can set up camp, that'd be enough." There was a hesitant pause. "I-I'm glad you decided to stick with us by the way. The thought of you being out here alone-" Luke scratched his neck awkwardly.
Her shocked expression spoke many things to Luke. Sometimes he wondered how long it'd been since anyone showed they cared for her. "Well, er- I've managed it before."
"Oh, that's funny because I seem to recall finding a girl almost starved to death." Olly scowled at him, but couldn't help but be amused by his audacious grin.
"You're an ass." She elbowed him lightly in the ribs resulting in fits of laughter from them both. Their hysterics, however, were drowned out by the sound of groaning, gradually making its way closer to them. They both cautiously unsheathed their weapons, scouting the bushes surrounding their path. "Luke, behind you!" jumping forward from the trees, a group of roamers clattered out, their claws gnashing at anything they could grasp. Luke dodged the one closest to him, but tumbled backwards, another crashing on top of him, it's teeth attempting to grasp his flesh. "Luke!" Olly called out in panic. Scared she'd slice him also, she kicked the roamer off of him and then stabbed the katana's blade in to it's brain.
"Olly, watch out!" Two more came tumbling forwards, barely having enough time to remove the blade from the one she'd already killed, she managed to behead the one closest to her. Luke dragged himself off the ground and sliced in to the other. He then placed a protective arm against her stomach as if to shield her from the remaining two. "You get the one on the right, I'll get the left." With that, they both charged forward. Olivia glided her weapon down in to the brains of the rotting corpse, whilst Luke rammed his machete in to his target's mouth and pulled it up until the roamer fell to the floor, dead.
They both crouched panting heavily, sweat dripping down their brow and adrenaline coursing through their veins. Once they had both regained their composure, they stood up straight. "A-are you okay, Luke?"
"Me? Yeah, I-I'm fine. That was a close one, huh?" Olly nodded, and gazed upon her weapon which now dripped with rotted blood. "..Are you okay?"
"W-what? Oh... yeah, I'm fine." In honesty, she wasn't fine. Her body was shaking and her legs felt unsupported. She could have lost him. This fear was new to her. This was something different. The fear and protective maternal feelings she had for Clementine felt a lot less complicated than how this felt. This was unexplainable...
Olly shook her head, as if to wipe the thoughts from her mind, but Luke could tell something was bothering her, but didn't persist upon it. "You ready to keep going?"
She sighed. "Yeah." They both wiped their weapons on the grass before sheathing them once again. They set off through a passage in the opposite direction the beasts came from, no longer willing to risk dropping their guard. "Did you get hurt?"
"No, no. Not really. Just grazed my elbows, that's all." He half smiled at her to reassure her he was being honest.
"Well, just... just try to be more careful, okay?"
"Wow, was that you expressing concern, Oliver?" She smiled, but remained silent. "Well, the same applies to yourself of course." Luke wasn't sure when it had happened, but this girl with her emerald gemmed eyes and her illuminous red hair, had wormed her way into his heart. He didn't know what it was about her, but she was unlike anyone he'd ever met. She was serious, yet funny. She was cold, yet kind. She was cunning, yet honest. Nothing about her made sense, but she made sense to him. And yet, all he was able to think about was the fact that this was the worst time to get involved with anyone. I mean, they were being chased by a mad man and they had already screwed up by getting her and Clementine involved in the first place. Now, they were both in danger... and in large part, it was his fault.
"Hey, Luke. Look." Olly gestured towards an opening in the woods that was completely isolated and covered by shrubbery. The perfect place to set up camp, whilst staying incognito.
"Great job! Let's go back and tell the others."
"Okay so- Do you want the good news or bad news?" The group turned quickly at the sound of Luke's voice, relief washing over them all at the sight of the two safe and sound. Clementine ran over to them both, a huge smile on her face.
However, Carlos' eyes trailed down to their blooded clothing and grim look fell upon his face. "What happened?"
Olly followed Carlos' gaze and looked upon rot stained material that clung to their bodies. "Erm... well... We ran in to a bit of trouble. Nothing we couldn't handle though."
Clementine looked bemused. "Maybe if you'd taken me with you, I could have helped."
Luke knelt down in front of her and placed a soothing hand on her shoulder. "I'll take you next time, okay?" She nodded then returned to Rebecca's side, who was still struggling with exhaustion and fatigue. Since Rebecca's apology to both Clementine and Olivia, tension had been eased greatly in the group. The only trouble they had was Nick, who was being hit hard by the death of his uncle, Pete. Luke was constantly worrying about him, afraid he'd do something stupid.
Carlos sighed. "I think we could all use some good news right now, Luke."
"What? Oh right, yeah. Well the good news is, me and Olly managed to find a place for us to rest the night."
"Okay... so what's the bad news?" The group waited for a response to Carlos' question with uneasy expressions.
"It's no place comfortable. We'd have to set up camp and we probably wouldn't get that finished before nightfall.-" The look of disappointment was evident on each group member's face. "B-but it's safe! The bushes around it conceal the whole area. There's only one sure way to get through it and if a couple of people took turns keepin' watch, there's no way anythin' could happen."
"We don't have much choice, do we." It wasn't a question. Rebecca sighed, obviously feeling she was a burden on the group. Olivia and Luke led the group through the forest, retracing their steps, sometimes stopping to ensure they were going the right way. It hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of them how they'd often shoot glances at each other and how Olly seemed to only let her guard down around him. If it weren't for Luke, they probably would never have realised that she did indeed have a sense of humor behind that cold glare. Rebecca had spoken about it to Carlos and Alvin briefly when they had both wandered in to the forest for her. The others didn't think much of it, but the way Luke looked at her... she'd never seen him be like that before.
Olly recognised the dismembered corpses her and Luke had taken down as they past them. "Not much further, guys." They nodded and continued the trek on the barely visible footpaths to their location. Once they finally arrived, they all breathed a sigh of relief. Luke and Carlos got to work on setting up the camp, whilst Alvin comforted his wife who had been really feeling the strain. Olivia decided she needed to spend some quality time with Clementine who had been trying to humor Sarah a lot more than she could probably handle.
"Hey, Clem. How're you feeling?" Olly sat by Clementine who was cross-legged on a patch of grass.
"Okay, I think." She looked down at her hands, a small frown appearing on her face that went as quick as it had arrived. An unobservant person might not have even seen it all.
"You can talk to me, Clem. What's on your mind?"
"It's nothing. I was just thinking about my friend, Christa." Luke had spoken to her on this subject after Clementine had indulged them with more about her life before she joined up with the group.
Olivia could empathize with not knowing how a person was or where they were. It was torture, but she didn't need to tell Clementine that. "You know, your cap is much cooler than mine. Where'd you get it?" Olly gestured to the blue and white (if you could call it that. It wasn't very white any more)" hat on the top of Clem's head who unknowingly placed a hand on the rim.
"My dad gave it to me." The heart-rending look on the girl's face told Olly that she shouldn't pursue this line of questioning, but her thoughts immediately turned to her own dad. She sighed, her emotions now matching Clementine's, and turned to face Luke who seemed to be giving her a very concerned expression. She smiled at him as if to assure him she was fine, but it didn't seem to appease him. He attempted to return it, but his crease lines were still visible with worry. Olly mouthed 'I'm okay' and only then did Luke continue his work. Carlos had began lighting a fire now, whilst Luke continued setting up the beds. By the time they had both finished and food was bubbling over the fire, the day had turned to night and they all gathered round the heat source, talking in hushed tones.
"So, who's taking watch duty tonight?" Luke asked whilst steering the cooking pot, filled with goodness knows what.
"I'll do it." Nick mumbled, whilst running his hands over his rifle.
Luke was conflicted. He wanted to give Nick something to take his mind of things, but he couldn't trust him to protect the group, not whilst he was in the state he was. "Er, actually Nick... I think someone else should do it."
Nick scowled at him. "You don't think I'm capable of watching a pathway!?"
Luke's startled eyes scouted the tree lines, in fear that someone or something may hear him. "Quieten down, Nick. I'm not saying that. I'm just sayin' that you've been through a lot and you need to catch up on sleep."
"Luke's right, Nick. This has been a tough time for all of us, but you especially. Just rest up for the night." Rebecca finished with a smile, in the hopes that Nick wouldn't refuse, which he didn't. He just got up from the camp site and sprawled out on one of the makeshift beds.
"Well, I offer to take one watch tonight..."
"Heh. No way, Luke!" Olivia glared at him fiercely. "You took one yesterday and one the night before that. You're exhausted! Me and Alvin will do it tonight, right Alvin?"
"Sure thing, if that's okay with you Becks?" She hesitates, then nods slowly.
Luke sighed. "Okay, I guess that's sorted then. Who will take first watch?" Olly quickly pointed to herself. "All right then. We better eat up because we'll have an early start tomorrow."
Soon after, everyone had finished eating, apart from Nick who went to bed without supper. It didn't take long for an exhausted group to fall fast asleep, dreaming about a life better than the hell they lived in now. Olivia had ensured that Clementine slept near her or Luke at all times. He was the only one she trusted to look out for her. It was petty because it was a pretty tight packed group, but everyone else had someone who they had been around forever, and if given the choice, would save them over her. She didn't want the girl in that position.
The red head took the place set up for her, giving her a good view down the entrance path. It was pitch black, the only light coming from the embers of the camp fire. She had a torch on standby in case she needed it, but she didn't want anything shining in the bushes giving them away. Olly took a moment to gaze upon the sleeping bodies beside her, a small smile visible on her face. If she never found her family, at least she had this one.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Hey, guys. I've added this disclaimer at the bottom because I've been accused of plagiarization because my OC has a similar name to an OC already on this site. I just want to clear this up so there is no more confusion. I've been in contact with the writer from the other story because they received a message about the similarities, also. I was aware that this story existed as just before I had started writing my own, I noticed theirs and because Luke/OC stories are far and few, I decided to check it out. I read the first few lines and then began my own. The similarities may have been an unconscious decision on my part but I don't think there are that many similarities between the two to become worried about it considering I didn't even finish the first chapter. Neither did the other writer and so we both agreed to just continue with our separate stories. Also, I'm using the dialogue from the game in the scenes that I haven't made because I'm not trying to rewrite the game, I'm just trying to incorporate my own character. I don't want to change any of the other character's plot lines or have their characters change how they speak. I never expected this story to get popular, I only did it for my own amusement, but since people are enjoying it I'm going to continue.