Chapter 3 - Night 1

A/N I rated it M... blood and gore is to be expected.. and it is Walking Dead, after all. Also from here on now I am going to describe the 5 days that in the game are skipped… the way they make towards the ski resort.

"Everyone pack up… we are moving out!"

"I travel light… so I can accompany you and Clementine to look for Nick."

"Ok… Good." As soon as little Clementine finished her conversation with Carlos, Luke was already up and rolling to take her after his friend… she was the last person with him so she knew where to lead us.

"Look, we gotta find Nick. You know where he was, right?"

"Yeah…"

"All right. Everybody grab your stuff. Let's hit the road."

The three of them already left, the others listened to Adeline's proposal to bury Pete despite the risk they'd be winning with this little thing. Luke was a bit on edge… with all the news about Carver and all the other extra details Adeline never knew about he didn't really knew what to expect. Still the only thing on her mind was poor Pete left all alone next to that river, his body left to no one.

Little Clementine was taking us to some hidden little house or a shed in the woods; there were a few walkers but no Nick to be seen. Somehow, every time Adeline looked at the little girl pity was the only thing she could muster… 11 years and bound to never experience more than what this fucked up world will ever be able to offer… 11 already knowing what dead is, already knowing about the future's insecurity and about danger…about the life and death situations… all of those shitty parts that some people don't even know about, their entire life… this is so unfair to her… to everyone.

"There. That's where we were…" We found Nick… with a pretty hangover… another injustice done to everyone… to Adeline in particular.

"Is there any left?"

"What?"

"W-h-a-t he asks… Alcohol… I've been begging for something with a bit of taste to burn my throat for ages."

"There is still some in the back."

"What! No… Nick shut up… one drunk asshole is enough."

"Shut up Luke." The woman managed to grab one of the cans and left taking big gulps from it. Her face contorted as the whiskey slid down her throat and invaded her chest, but the fuzzy feeling that it created was exactly what she needed. "We should go and meet with the others."

"Where are we going?"

"Right now back to the river…" Nick widen his eyes as he took a glance at Luke, the man answered him with a small weak smile.

By the time they returned Alvin was already done with the grave… maybe it is better for Nick that he didn't have to see his uncle all mangled up. The poor boy fell to his knees at the site of it, simply staring. Luke tried his best to comfort him. Adeline realized just how important a good friend is… The girl looked around for a bit until she found some little pinkish flowers… those weren't much… but just enough for this to work. She ripped a few and went back to the group. The first to get one was Nick… which still a bit nonresponding thanked her with a nod... then Carlos and the couple…and after them she went to Sarah which was sitting on a rock together with Clementine.

"Hey girls..."

"Wow… they are so beautiful." Sarah, blind as always, did her best to clip the little bloom to her hair, Adeline smiled and helped her. Clementine sadly nodded as she offered hers to Sarah.

"We'll be on the road soon enough… rest for a bit… maybe even fill some of the bottles with some water from the river if you are at it."

Now returning back to the group she went straight to Luke which somehow showed his gratitude just by the way he was looking at her. He accepted the flower and put it on the makeshift cross, Carlos and Alvin managed to make in the short time they had, and with a small knife he scratched Pete's name 'Pete Joseph Randall'.

"As he always said we are wasting daylight…" Even though an important part of that group died, Luke still had to look at the entire picture and crying at a grave wasn't taking us anywhere. After some minutes in which the girls finished their job and Luke pulled Nick back on his feet they were all leaving, Adeline offered her own flower to Pete with only a few words blown away by the wind.

"I hope there is something better where you went… and if you can… find a man, his name is Tom… tell Tom that I miss him the most and that I am sorry."

After a long walk, like the entire day which seemed like nothing to the girl but definitely took its toll on the others, the group decided to stop in a little secluded corner.

"Ok people we have like three tents. Who is going to keep watch?"

"Alvin can't tonight… he already did for the past few days." Taking a look at her husband, Luke nodded in acknowledgement.

"That leaves us with me, Carlos and Adeline. Two should be enough just for this night."

"I will keep watch first." Adeline, seeing as she is the freshest right now, chooses to have the first shift.

"Ok… Carlos, Sarah and Clementine can have one of the two persons tent, Alvin and Rebecca the three persons one… Me, Adeline and Nick the one person one, as we will keep watch it should be ok.

"Nick can come with the two of us, there is no problem." Rebecca instantly sends killing glares to her husband but as that man was all happy and filled with smiles as he always is she had nothing to add.

The tents gave them quite a headache but in the end they were done, Nick was proud to have done one big fire only to have it all extinguished because of the size… it could alert Carver's party, so he ended up angry with his hands crossed… the whole picture gave Adeline the impression of a little scolded child.

"Ok… so now the food part."

"Inside the tents they are already eating… Carlos is with Sarah." Adeline informed him.

"Nick… how are you keeping up, man?"

"I miss Pete…"

"We all do… but… Clementine told me…"

"What did she tell you?" The little girl already widens her eyes begging Luke not to continue his point about Nick's suicidal tendency.

"About saving her… I never thought you had it in you."

"Ohh… I was half drunk…"

"That explains it then." They both laughed.

After some more chatting and eating they all went to bed besides Luke who went after the girl now leaned by a tree doing her job.

"Are you sure you want to take the first shift?"

"Don't worry for me."

"I am not… I actually came to thank you… about Pete. It was a good idea in the end."

"In the end?"

"I half expected to be jumped on by somebody while the others were mourning."

"You should get some sleep."

"This is a nice way to say 'Luke leave me be, I am in no mood to chit chat with you'… I got the hint." The man was trying to make his best impression of Adeline, with one hand on his hip and the other pointed up making small circles.

"Good job Sherlock."

"Not even trying to deny my claims... huh?"

"Luke… You are starting to grow on me so don't push it." The man smiled at her and with a wave he announced his own way to sleep.

After a few boring hours of nothing Adeline thought that a little wondering around wouldn't hurt. So careful not to do too much noise she got her backpack and left for some random corner between the trees, cautious to still have the camp in sight. After some wandering Adeline's foot slid on a wet patch of grass falling right on her butt and all happened a bit like in some crappy cartoon in which the character falls with its legs going to the sky.

"Damn it." Bringing her hands in front of her she could see something sticky and red tainting them. "Damn it…" Looking around to make sure no walker was actually the blood's donor she realized she had fallen right in a blood puddle. "Damn it!" Quickly getting up she slipped several times creating some kind of a squishy sound and the feeling under her was just gross, a bit like some kind of dough but not the good type. Looking now much better she could see the entire picture. "God…" There was a large stack of chunky red bits strew all over. You could see bones and organs here and there and some parts of the person meters away as if after creating this mess somebody played with the bits (as she couldn't really say if it was a man or a woman) that didn't turn to mush… it was just an unsightly mess. But what didn't strike Adeline at first was the smell… maybe living in a world where you could actually stumble over a death corpse at every turn the smell becomes normal but this stench was just… foul. But then, it was a conglomeration of raw meat, after all.

Taking in the sight her heart stopped when an all too familiar moan reached her ears, turning right in the right second she just saved her leg from one nasty bite from just a… head. It was cracked, bits and bones sticking out through the decomposed hair… but the brain untouched so it kept going. A severed head, torn off at the neck was now moving towards her with the help of its mandible. Grabbing one of the sprawled ribs she slowly drove the pointy bone through the hole in the skull right in to the pinkish material known as a brain. The once human, died instantly releasing one last growl. With her index finger she tried to close one of his eyes only to get the eye lid stuck to her finger. "I hope there is some final rest for you." Still there was something she liked at that whole picture… a bloody makeshift bow was stuck around the spine… and a thin leather quiver with some arrows. Stepping over all of her disgust and trying her best not to puke she managed to retrieve them. "God… I should go back now." And yet again she just reminded herself of those characters in those useless movies which spoke out loud everything they were going to do…. Anyhow she had her bow; returning to the camp was the best thing to do now. Walking she realized just how gross her clothes felt on her…. She never liked it when she got wet because the material would stick to her skin… but now blood being much thicker it was even better… "Damn it". Back at the fire Luke was looking erratic all around and as soon as he saw her form through the dark he dashed for Adeline. As the details reached him panic could be read all over his features.

"Are you ok? What happened?"

"Nothing really... I was just clumsy."

"You are covered in blood!" The man reached his hand to her shoulder only to pick up some weird looking piece of meat which as he pressed it released a hideous mushy sound, he threw it as if bitten by it. "What did you do?"

"I found a bow…" Seeing her innocent smile Luke could only roll his eyes and walk back to the fire. With his back towards her, Adeline heard him gulping which only opened a window for some joking around.

"What? You don't like my new perfume?"

"Just change!"

"Eau de corpse… the new best thing… you can smell it everywhere."

"Please…"

"The big and mighty hero can't take in some smelly gore."

"Adeline!"

"Fine! fine…"

After some scrubbing and getting dressed she fell asleep. It doesn't really matter how… maybe Luke simply left for his shift, or maybe he stayed there with her… maybe he was worried, maybe not… the only thing that mattered was the fact that she dreamt of him that night… and it was awful. She had one of those lousy dreams that haunt you once in a while. One of those gifts offered to you by your own mind to torment your soul. Contempt and happiness becoming just an ephemeral sensation warning you of the sorrow so close to your heart, so adamant to make you cry. Everybody hates those dreams that wait on the border towards nightmare. Adeline as well, she hated that she can only have what she can't phantom.

She can never wish for this to anyone not even to her enemies… to see someone close to you turn is one of the most horrible sights… and she lived it… so many times again and again in her dreams… now for them to be replaced by Luck… Why was her mind toying with her? No! It wasn't right… so she woke up from that nightmare just to see as the man was entering the tent.

"Umm… sorry for waking you up… Carlos couldn't sleep so he said he'd keep some watch." Her hands came to her forehead in an attempt to calm down the wrecked nerves and speeding heart she had without him realizing. After a big sigh she curled up in her corner to sleep.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Adeline."