The Walking Dead: Season Two

Episode Three: Behind Closed Doors

Chapter One: Pit Stop

Previously on The Walking Dead: After receiving a cry for help from Molly and her friends who had been trapped by walkers on the roof of The Marsh House Hotel back in Savannah, Clementine and the group of survivors went back to save them. However, by the time they got there, Paul had already been killed. Also, unbeknownst to the group, Ryan had been bitten. When he turned, he also bit Alex. Johnny shot Alex to prevent him from turning too, and followed the rest of the group as they fled The Marsh House. When they finally left Savannah behind them, Lilly decided upon a new location she believed would be safe for the group to survive.

The RV hit another bump, making the entire crew bounce in their seats, and Johnny was awake again. When he looked around him, he saw that nothing had changed. Coach was still driving the RV to this new safe zone that many in the group had started to doubt even existed, as they had been driving for days. Still, Lilly insisted that this place was quite real, and there weren't exactly a lot of other options open to them. Johnny just needed to get out, to breathe the fresh air and have something else to think about. Sat in that RV, frightened and alone, all he could think about was how much he regretted pretty much every action he'd taken since Lilly had first shown up. He regretted taking Lilly back to the campsite in the first place. He regretted trying to poison Tom, and instead causing the deaths of his wife and daughter. Above all, Johnny regretted not leaving with Alex when he'd had the chance. Now, Alex was gone, and Johnny was alone with the constant voice in his head that told him, if he kept this up, he was going to get everyone in this group killed.

"Hey, I never gave this back to you." Molly held out her walkie-talkie to Clementine, noticing that the little girl was still concerned about Johnny. "It's yours, right?"

"Yeah," Clementine said, realising she had completely forgotten about the second walkie. She took her eyes off Johnny finally to turn to Molly and smile. "I left it at The Marsh House, but I'm glad I did. We wouldn't have been able to save you and your friends without it."

Molly smiled back at Clem, even though she'd forgotten that not all of her friends had made it out of there. They hadn't arrived in time to save Ryan and Paul. Their deaths were on Molly, and her alone. "What were you doing there, Clem?" She asked in a desperate attempt to change the subject.

"There was a man," Clem began telling her story, the one she'd tried so hard to forget. "He took me away from Lee. He said he was with my parents, but he lied. Then, Lee rescued me." Molly saw Clem begin to tear up at the thought of Lee. She wiped her tears away.

"What happened to him?" Molly asked. "The man?"

"He…" Clementine struggled. "He can't hurt anyone anymore." There was a pause. For those long seconds, Molly feared that she'd forced Clementine into remembering something she'd long since tried to put behind her. But Clementine went on. "The man… He lost his family… It was our fault." She tried to fight back her tears, but failed.

"What do you mean, Clementine?" Molly was stunned.

"We found his car. There was nobody inside, but it was filled with supplies. We didn't know they were going to come back. We took everything. It was our fault his family…"

"No," Molly said as she put her arms around Clem. "Don't say that. Don't even think that."

She wrapped the girl in her arms as the RV slowly came to a halt.

"Thank God," Johnny said from across the RV, faking a smile. "I could use a break."

"I think we could all use a break right about now," Coach decided as he emerged from the driver's cabin. He winked at Clementine and Molly joyfully as he stepped outside the RV.

When Todd woke up, he found himself alone in the RV. The others had piled out of the recreational vehicle to get some fresh air, and who could blame them? The heat inside the hot prison made Todd's hair stick to his brow. Even Molly had fled outside to feel the warmth of the sun kiss her skin, despite never leaving Todd's side since they had left The Marsh House. When Todd looked around him, he discovered he wasn't alone after all. Laid on the back seat of the RV, Donald's stump was in clear sight as the old man snored away. His chest pumping as he took deep breaths in and out, Donald shielded his eyes from the shining sun with the back of his hand. Todd could see that Donald's other hand, dangling over the seat, held a book loosely. Lord of the Flies. Todd smirked as he wondered if it was the book that sent him to sleep. When Donald's hand dropped the book, the old man shot up, alarmed by the sound. As soon as he realised what had just happened, Donald cackled at his own stupidity, and laid back down. His laughing made Todd uncomfortable. He must have missed the joke.

"Go ahead and say it kid," Donald said to Todd. "I'm an old fool." He laughed.

"I don't think you're a fool," Todd told him honestly, though he wasn't sure that was the right answer. Even so, the old man continued to chuckle to himself.

"Well then, you're just as much a fool as I," Donald told him. "I know what you're thinking. What the hell has this old coot got to laugh about?" He tilted his head in the direction of his stump. "The answer is: not that much." Then, Donald became very serious. His smile had disappeared and he now sat upright. "I lost my son, Jamie, to those… things out there. I lost my RV that me and Alice had had for years. I lost my favourite leg." He sat forward, frowning. "I lost more than you could ever imagine. But every time, I did something," Donald explained. His smile returned and he became laid back again as he continued his speech. "I moved on." He noticed Todd's shock. "Now, I know how that must sound. And trust me, losing Jamie wasn't something I got over by sleeping on it. Neither was losing my good leg for that matter. But moving on is, really, all we can do. It's what separates us from them. We have to live for today, because there may not be a tomorrow. As clichéd as it might sound, you have to start living everyday like it's your last – because in this world, it damn well could be."

"Yeah, I got it," Todd said once Donald had wrapped up his speech. He got up to leave the RV, but before he did so, he turned to Donald. "Thanks," he said sincerely before jumping out of the RV.

"You're welcome," Donald told the kid. He tried to remember the kid's name. Ryan, wasn't it? Or Paul?

Outside, Johnny distanced himself from the rest of the group. Outside the RV, the group talked about their destination. Lilly explained how she knew about the place and what, according to her, made it so safe. Johnny didn't care enough to stay. Perhaps he might have taken interest if Alex was still here. But without him, finding somewhere safe to settle down didn't feel like something worth aiming for anymore. He simply couldn't picture his life without him. Apparently he hadn't been the only one not interested in Lilly's stories. On the other side of the RV, Omid stood slugging down a bottle of whiskey. When he noticed Johnny watching him, Omid pulled the bottle from his lips. "Shit," he uttered as he tried desperately to hide it. He covered the bottle beneath his jacket, but it was too late. He sighed, and wiped the dripping liquid from his chin as he revealed the half-empty bottle. Something told Johnny that he wasn't supposed to have seen what he'd just seen.

"Yeah… You weren't exactly supposed to see that," Omid admitted, kicking the dirt beneath his feet. Johnny didn't know him well, but he could tell that the guy was ashamed of himself.

"I figured," Johnny replied. He looked around him, just to make sure he was the only one who'd seen him. "Listen, don't worry about it, man. I'm not gonna tell anyone."

"Really?" Omid couldn't believe his luck. He had just avoided a painful couple of hours having to explain this to Christa and the group. "Shit. Thank you so much, dude."

"Don't sweat it. Seriously." Johnny just kept walking. He didn't even think twice about what he'd seen Omid doing. It was none of his business after all.

Coach had parked the RV in the middle of the dirt road that Lilly claimed would lead them straight to their new home. Treelines bordered the dirt road. Over the horizon, Johnny could see the sun rising. Even now, as the sun began to light the sky, Johnny felt nervous. Beyond the treeline could lie any kind of threat whether it be walkers or worse. Johnny stuffed his hands in his pockets as he distanced himself from the RV even further. Further along the road, Johnny began to make out the shape of a body. He paced towards the shape, and saw that the corpse had split into two. When he was mere feet from the body, he could see the tire tread that marked the corpse's burst stomach. They had been run over, and their body had been ripped into two. The corpse lied face up in the dirt, its entrails hanging from its open belly. The corpse seemed fresh. Whatever happened here, it hadn't happened long ago. Suddenly, the corpse's eyes flickered open and it began to groan weakly at Johnny, its arms stretched out towards him. Johnny jumped, but the walker could barely move. The walker turned itself on its side and began to drag itself towards Johnny, who didn't back away. As the corpse's entrails slid from its torn belly, Johnny felt the need to retch. Instead, Johnny cried. He continued to weep as the walker hauled its upper-half even closer to Johnny, leaving its legs behind. Thank God, Johnny thought to himself. Thank God I didn't let him become like this. Johnny had promised Alex that, if he were ever bitten, he would put him out of his misery before he could turn. Johnny never thought it would ever have to come to that – but he had been wrong. Keeping his promise was the only thing Johnny didn't regret. So deep in thought, Johnny didn't see the walker that was slowly approaching him from behind.

"Johnny! Look out behind you!" Omid cried all the way over from the RV, but loud enough for Johnny to hear. He turned sharply to meet the walker that straggled towards him. It was still a couple of metres from him, and slow enough that Johnny could easily have outrun the creature. But Johnny didn't move. He stood motionless as both walkers slowly approached him. "What the hell is he doing?" Omid asked himself as Lilly and Christa came flying past him. Their weapons already drawn, they were the first to run towards Johnny. But Omid followed closely behind with the rest of the group. Even Clementine ran beside him.

"C'mon," Johnny encouraged the walkers. "C'mon you sons of bitches." He backed away slowly. The walker clawed at the air in front of him whilst the zombie that crawled made swings for his legs. Johnny dodged each attack effortlessly. It wasn't exactly a challenge - he'd managed to find the two slowest walkers in all of Georgia. He knew he was going down – he wanted to go down - but not without a fight. "C'MON!" He screamed at the walkers.

"What the hell is he doing?" Lilly wondered aloud as she led the charge to the walkers, pulling her rifle from the strap on her back as she ran. She stopped suddenly to aim her rifle, carefully trying to determine which was the biggest threat to Johnny. Realising they were both seconds away from mauling him, she decided she would have to try a different tactic. "You take the crawler," she told Christa, who had now pulled out her pistol.

Johnny tripped on his own feet and fell backwards onto his side, the walkers now closing in one him. He shut his eyes as he felt their claws on all over his body. He was ready. "I'm coming, Alex," he whispered to himself as the first walker opened its mouth to sink its black teeth into Johnny's neck.

Two shots rang out simultaneously. One of the bullets took the crawler climbing up Johnny's leg. His head burst in a messy explosion of red gunk that splattered Johnny's jacket and finally made him retch. The other bullet took the second walker off his feet, hitting his shoulder and forcing him to the ground with a loud THUD, but the groans that followed suggested that Christa's shot was not as fatal as Lilly's.

Omid sat beside Johnny and patted his back, as though he was burping a toddler, as he brought up the last of his dinner. "Okay, pal. It's alright," he reassured Johnny, though he was still curious why he had let himself become surrounded by those things in the first place. But now was not the time to ask. And the last thing Omid wanted to do was piss Johnny off, and give him an excuse to bring up what he'd seen Omid doing earlier.

"What the hell is wrong with you, kid?" Lilly asked the question everyone was wondering, only she did it a little more aggressively then Omid might have done.

Johnny didn't know how to answer that. He had been putting the group in danger for weeks now. All he'd wanted to do was stop himself from ever making that same mistake again. Instead, he had done exactly that. What if one of them had been bitten? They even had a little girl with them. Johnny could have been responsible for the death of another innocent child. He saw Clementine stood in between Christa and Lilly, and felt nauseous again. When Christa finished off the wounded walker with a final shot to the head, Johnny retched up another heap of steaming hot bile.

The next bullet that they fired must have shattered one of the car's windows, as Jerry felt fragments of broken glass fall and cut his face as he reloaded his revolver. He span the clip and jumped from his cover to fire another sequence of bullets at the bandits, who were cowering behind their truck. As Jerry offered them covering fire, Tommy, Jackson and the others returned to their jeeps. The first group had already driven far away from the scene of battle when Jerry joined Tommy and the two other Crawford men in the second jeep. Tommy slammed his foot down on the accelerator, and followed them back to base. Jerry could still feel and hear the bandits' bullet whiz past them. They're wasting ammo, Jerry thought until one of the bullets hit and smashed the jeep's rear view mirror. "Drive faster," Jerry then instructed Tommy with urgency. He turned back to the truck and fired another six bullets at the bandits, whose heads he occasionally saw peep over the truck's roof. None of them hit their targets, but Jerry could only hope that it would scare them enough not to follow them. Jerry hadn't asked for any of this, but the bandits had been giving them trouble ever since Jerry and his group first started scavenging for supplies in the area around their town. Their leader had ordered they bring back the head of anyone who dared enter their territory. And after meeting Jason Quesada himself, Jerry understood why the bandits were so quick to follow their leader's orders. It was another Oberson situation, meaning Jerry knew what had to be done if they ever wanted to remove the bandits from their long list of problems. For now though, Jerry had to focus on getting his men back home. He had promised these men a better life outside Crawford's walls, and so far, that was a promise he'd failed to keep true to.

And then, Jerry's eyes were back on the road as Tommy's began to tap him on the shoulder in sudden alarm. "Oh shit," he cursed quietly. "What do we do?" he asked Jerry, the panic audible in his voice. At first, Jerry couldn't make out the shapes. A gust of wind blew dirt in their faces and created a wall of dust and grime that clouded their vision. But when the storm had passed, and the dust had settled, Jerry could make out two – perhaps three black trucks forming a road block up ahead. Outside each truck stood at least three men, all armed to the teeth. The jeep before them slowly came to a halt, and Tommy put his foot on the brakes. The jeep came to a screeching halt behind the first, and Jerry's heart sank as he saw Jason Quesada, leader of the bandits, emerge from one of the black vans, a bloody axe in his hand, and his cold, tormenting eyes fixated on Jerry.

Next time on The Walking Dead: The group finally arrive at a new location where Lilly believes they can survive, but is it as safe from the walkers as she hopes? Christa confronts Omid over a secret he's been keeping from her, and the rest of the group begin to worry about Johnny after his behavior of late. Meanwhile, Jason Quesada and his group of bandits confront Jerry and his men, who have trespassed in their territory, neglecting their agreement. Now, Jerry must face the consequences.

Episode Three has begun! Hope you all enjoyed this first chapter! Chapter Two is ready to be uploaded, so get typing some reviews! :)

-George