The Walking Dead: Fight for Survival
Chapter 10: Carver's community
Here's the chapter all of you have been waiting for. Once I finish this Episode, I will not be writing until Episode 4 has been released, and I do have a Grand Theft Auto story to write as well. Just to let you know. Also, on Episode 2, I was mostly following the dialogue from Episode 2, but this time, I will be making my own dialogue to make the story look different. Oh, and be sure to vote on my poll, sometime.
Anyway, I've talked a lot. Enjoy the chapter.
Carver and his remaining henchman had taken their captured prisoners back down the hill to a storage truck they had driven here in. They loaded their prisoners into the back with their hands bind together and began to drive back to this community of Carvers. Inside, everyone was in silent with sad expressions across their faces from the many friends they had just lost. First, Nick was killed by a walker, Alvin was shot by Carver, and Walter was executed by Carver.
Everyone was silent until Lilly had finally decided to speak up with a determined expression across her face. "Are we all just going to sit here and let them take us?"
"Well what can we do?" Lee inquired while he was seated in between Carley and Clementine. "They took all of our weapons and were locked in the back of this fucking truck. You expect us to break out of here."
"No, I just don't expect us to sit here and do nothing." Lilly replied, standing up and proceeding over towards the front of the truck where the cab was on the other side.
"Lilly, sit down!" Carlos demanded, but his words did not get through to here.
Lilly angrily hanged her hands against the cab of the truck, screaming as loud as she could to get their attention. "Hey! Let us out of here! HEY!"
"Shut the fuck up in there!" one of Carver's henchmen-Troy-had ordered.
"Lilly, just sit down!" Rebecca told her. "You already cost us two of our people, I'm pretty sure none of us want to lose anyone else."
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Lilly asked while she sat back down where she was sitting before.
"Because of you, we lost Alvin and Walter." Carley reminded her, an angry expression rose across her face when she blamed most of this on Lilly.
"What did you just say?" Lilly inquired, wanting to make sure what she just heard out of her old friend was correct. "How is this my fault? If you're group never came to our ski lodge, then maybe that Carver bastard wouldn't have taken us."
"Because of you Walter and Alvin are dead!" Carlos scolded her. "You shot one of his own henchmen which resulted in him killing Walter, and then you shot Carver when he was clearly holding Alvin as a hostage! You must learn that regardless of intent, there are consequences to rash actions. It is something that you don't seem to be misreading as capitulation."
Clementine, whom had been keeping silent during their argument, decides to speak up and defend Lilly from their judgment. "No, it wasn't Lilly's fault. It was mine. I told her to shoot."
Lilly was surprised that Clementine, the young girl that once feared her, would have the nerve to defend her from the rest of them. But she did have it in her heart to have the blame on a little girl she use to take care of back at the Motor-Inn. "No, Clementine, it wasn't your fault. I was the one who pulled the trigger, and that makes my responsible."
Clementine merely nodded in response as she sat in between her adoptive parents.
Lilly shifted her attention back towards Carlos, and had no idea what he meant by all that fancy talk, but she felt really annoyed that they would all dare put the blame on her. "Now as for you, Carlos, excuse me for trying to save my people. Maybe next time I will just leave and run away, just like you're friend Luke did."
"What?" Carlos was in denial on what she just said. "Luke ran away?"
Lilly was about to answer with a lie, but decided that was not the right thing to do at this moment. She leaned back against the cold metal wall of the truck and sighed. "No...We got separated on our way to the transformer by walkers. I don't know what happened to him, Carlos."
"I don't think Luke was ever one to run." Lee admitted; although he had only known them for a short time, he could tell Luke was no cowered and would never abandon his friends. "Who knows? Maybe he's following us as we speak."
"He does remember where this community is, right?" Carley asked Carlos when she assumed he was the leader of their group.
"Yes, of course he does." Carlos assured. "Luke is very familiar with these woods and knows his way around. If he is still alive, he should be able to find us. But until then, we need to be careful."
"This Carver guy, why are all of your scared of him, so much?" Lee inquired. "He just seems like another random bandit to me."
Carlos was too surprised to what Lee had just told him and wanted to yell at him, but that would do good, and he would not exactly be able to defend himself with his broken fingers if Lee were to attack him. He was aware that they were new to his group and had yet to tell them about Carver. "You have no idea what he's like. William Carver is a very dangerous man, Lee; you have no idea what you're dealing with. He's smart, he has an army..."
"And he wants to punish us for leaving." Rebecca added, her being the most worried one due to the possible fact of her baby being Carver's as well as her own. "He's worse than the walkers."
Lee still did not see why they feared him so much compared to what was out there nowadays. He would have to wait and see, but in the meantime, he tried to assure them everything would be fine. "Look, guys, before we met you, me, Carley, Clementine, Lilly, and a few others saw things you wouldn't imagine. Walkers always tried to get us, these cannibals took us to their farm and cut off our friend's legs and tried to feed them to us, our home was attacked by bandits, and we've avoided death more times than we could remember."
"Maybe, but you had weapons then, did you not?" Carlos inquired.
"Not all the time, sometimes I had to rely on my own strength like when I had to fight one of the cannibals at the farm." Lee admitted, but he still had the courage to prepare for whatever Carver had to offer. "Look, obviously he wants us alive otherwise he could have just killed us there and then. We go in there, observe the place, and then get the fuck out of there. You guys escaped once, right?"
"Yes, but Carver more than likely sealed off the areas we got out last time." Carlos admitted as he turned towards his daughter, whom was crying in sadness and was being comforted by Rebecca. "We will just have to wait."
The truck they were in had suddenly been brought to a complete halt, and Troy could be heard complaining in the cab of the truck they were inside. "Fucking brakes ain't working again!"
"I swear to God, if you've broke my door...!" Carver warned.
A couple of moments later when the truck had been halted to a complete stop, followed by the back door of the truck opening. Standing outside were Bonnie, Troy, and another one of Carver's men: an African-American woman was quite fat for her size and looked around in her middle thirties, she had an afro with a headband around her forehead, she wore a dark yellow and brown jacket with blue jeans, and like her allies, she was armed with an AK-47. "Alright, up and at 'em."
None of them wanted to cause any trouble for now, at least, and obeyed her request. Everyone followed the guest through the community while Carver was in his office, making an announcement via the speakers through the entire building.
"We've got some familiar faces back with us tonight. Now, I understand some of you are confused as to why we'd bring these people back when they left us as they did."
"I think I have got pretty good fucking idea." Rebecca admitted.
"It might not come all at once...but the time will heal these wounds...so be patient with them until it does...and take solace in knowing that they're here to help us make our home a better place."
Everyone was now in a huge area that had more guards patrolling the area, and at the side on some shelves were stock foods. Lee and a couple of others looked above where they could see Carver in the manager's office through the window, speaking into a microphone.
"All these feelings you have of anger...betrayal...hate...they're all valid. No-one needs to forget what they did...but we have to find it in our hearts to forgive them."
"I can't believe how much food they have..." Clementine admitted, staring over at the food beside her.
"Just keep walking, Clementine." Lee instructed as he stood behind her.
"As many of you already know...a large herd of lurkers gathers just south of us..."
Troy shifted his attention over towards Carlos and moved towards him when he needed a favor from him. "Come on, doc, we need you for something."
"Why can't it wait until morning, Troy?" Carlos asked, he was too tired from all the walking and after he was brutally beaten by Carver, and to top it off, he had no use of his two fingers at the moment. Another reason for his excuse was he did not wish to leave Sarah on her own, especially in this place. "We're all exhausted."
"Just fucking come on, would ya?" Troy demanded.
Sarah began to panic and stopped when seeing her dad being separated from her, fearing she could not survive here without him to protect her. "No, please! I need my daddy. I can't...He...he looks after me."
Troy did not care to her sudden plea like the cold-hearted man he was, and instead, he nodded his head in the direction to where everyone else in their group was.
Carley placed her tied-together hands upon Sarah's shoulder and escorted her away, acting somewhat of a motherly-figure to her. "Come on, Sarah, it's okay. We need to go."
"But my dad..." Sarah panicked.
"He'll be back." Clementine assured to her new best friend,
"When?" Sarah inquired.
"I don't know. But he will come back." Clementine reassured her.
Sarah was still nervous to be here without her father, but she was grateful that she had a friend like Clementine to take care of her; despite the fact Clementine was way younger.
"And with the added manpower joining us this evening I have no doubt that we will continue to..."
Bonnie knelt down to a security shutter that would lead them into an area called "the yard" where Carver sounds those who need to work their way back into this community. She unlocked them with the keys. Although Bonnie was their enemy, she did give them a little friendly warning that they may want to take into consideration. "Make sure y'all stay off the fence. Bill can see if you're messing with it."
Clementine turned around for a moment and looked behind Troy to see Carver watching them in the manager's office while continuing his announcement. She was soon turned around by Lee and escorted into the yard. "Come on, Clementine."
"It's no longer enough to survive...it is our obligation to make this community a beacon of hope...To provide a light...a bright light. Bright enough to shine all this darkness. So that is we'll do." Carver finished his announcement and turned off the speakers.
Once the remaining survivors were inside the yard, a few of them began to observe the place to see it was the only way out was via the security shutters, the fences that were boarded-up with barbwire tied on the top, there were chairs stacked in circle near a fire to keep them warm, and bunk beds for them to sleep on. It did not look like the greatest place for them to be sleeping in, but it was better than being out there with the walkers.
"I suggest that ya'll best get some rest, because there ain't going to be much rest for none of you tomorrow." Troy suggested as Bonnie who was standing beside him untied everyone's restraints. "You're going to be working your assess off."
"Rebecca, that bed's for you." Bonnie said while gesturing her hand over towards the most comfortable bed in the area they were in.
"Yeah, of course it would be." Rebecca admitted, folding her arms together as she eyed the bed she was going to be sleeping on. "Fucking Bill. I'm carrying his child and he decides to keep me out in the cold, but at least I'll be on a comfortable bed."
"Hey, guys."
Rebecca shifted her attention to the familiar voice and was unable to imagine if her eyes were playing tricks on her when seeing someone she could have sworn was dead. "Reggie? I thought you were..."
Rajeev-better known as Reggie from his friends-was a man around in his middle thirties, his ethnicity was Pakistan-American, he had black hair all around the back and sides of his head, but the top of his head was bold, and he had short black facial hairs, he wore a light blue shirt with a beige hunting vest over it and dark navy jeans. And to everyone's shock, his left arm was missing, possible amputated from being bitten by a walker or it could have been as punishment for what he did in the past.
Rebecca moved closer to him and embraced him in the hug to, and he returned it with his one arm. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. What did Carver do to you...?" she noticed his missing arm and could only presume it was Carver who did this too him. "I can't believe..."
"Trust me; this could have been a LOT worse. I thought I was done for, but I'm lucky to be alive." Reggie admitted, not seeming too affected about his one arm. "I suppose I should say it's nice to see you all. But, uh, yeah...That's all I can say, really." he rubbed his neck with his one hand.
Not too far from where the rest of the group was, Lee and Carley were standing together and listening to the conversation between this Reggie person. Clementine and Sarah were doing the same, but they stood a couple of feet away from the adults.
"Reggie helped us." Sarah declared. "When we ran away, he helped us escape this place. I wish he could have come with us though."
Clementine started towards the new man and could not help but stare at his amputated arm. She never seen anyone with a missing part of their body, and it kind of crept her out. "What happened to his arm, Sarah?"
"I don't know." Sarah admitted, she could have sworn he had both arms the last time she saw him. "When we were running out together, He fell...And everybody else kept running. I know he had both his arms then. He might have lost it."
Clementine stared at her with a puzzled expression for a moment. How on Earth can you lose an arm?
Lee, Carley, and Clementine continued to listen in on Reggie whom was now explaining to his friends the story about his arm and why he had to have it amputated. "I was working outside, one day, and a Lurker snuck up on me while I was hammering something down. Luckily someone I worked with took the arm off quick enough. It saved my life." he was able to raise a slight smile across his face.
"That's awful...I'm so sorry." Rebecca apologized for a second time.
"Look, don't worry about it, it was my choice, and my choice only to help you guys." Reggie reassured them, not wanting any of them to feel guilty for the loss of his arms.
"Hey! Reggie!" Troy had finally spoken up after he had Bonnie had been silent while they guarded the area.
"Oh...Troy, what's up?" Reggie nervously inquired, still having a great fear of him due to the fact he was so eager to get back into Carver's group officially, but with his friends returning, that may make it a little difficult.
"Don't go fucking up now while these new people are here!" Troy warned in a harsh tone. "You know Bill's real close to letting you back into the ground. Tell you what, if you make sure things stay nice and quiet out here tonight, I'll be sure to let Bill know just how helpful you were and that you are useful."
A smile raised on Reggie's face when he realized that having his friends back might be his perfect opportunity into getting back into the group officially. "Oh, yeah, don't worry about a thing, you can count on me. Thanks, Troy."
"Don't mention it." Troy requested, turning around and marching his way out of the yard. Bonnie followed in suite like they were soldiers and the two exited the area together, locking the security shutters behind them.
After they were gone, Rebecca shifted his attention to the others whom had been silent since they arrived here, and she decided it was time to introduce her new friend to her old friend. "Oh, right. Reggie, let me introduce you to our new friends. We were with them when we got caught."
Reggie walked a little closer towards the new faces and introduced himself kindly. "Hey there, my name's Reggie."
"That's Sarita." Rebecca introduced him to Sarita, who had been quiet during their arrival.
"Hello." Sarita quickly greeted in return.
"That's Lilly."
"Hi." Lilly greeted as she folded her arms together with a normal expression across her face.
"That's Lee."
"Hey." Lee greeted, offering a handshake to the new face to which Reggie returned in a friendly matter, and Lee was even able to raise a smile across his face.
"And that's Carley." Rebecca finished.
"Hi." Carley smiled, placing both of her hands into the pockets of her jacket.
Reggie shifted his attention over towards the right side of Lee to see the young girl with a hat. He had yet to meet her. "Hello there! Who are you then?" he noticed her staring towards where his arm use to be. "The arm freaks you out, huh?"
"Clem, you know it's not nice not to stare." Lee requested in a kind tone, not wanting to make her first impression seem rude.
"No, don't worry. It's okay, Lee." Reggie assured. "It sometimes freaks me out, too"
Clementine could tell this man was nice just be looking at him, and felt comfortable enough to introduce herself towards him. After all, everyone else did. "I'm Clementine."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Clementine." Reggie replied, offering her a handshake with his one hand, and Clementine gladly accepted. He let go of her hand and noticed a few members of their group was unaccounted for. "Where's Carlos?"
"Bill's already got him treating some folks." Rebecca answered.
"Oh...okay. Good." Reggie smiled. "What about Pete? And Nick? Alvin?"
He could tell be their expressions that the many names he had just mentioned had passed on. Reggie felt saddened by the news he had just taken in and wished he did not ask. "I'm so sorry. Pete was a good man. Nick, well, I expected this to happen after he reckless he was, but he was still a good person. Alvin was a great guy, too. I'm sorry, guys."
"Can you guys save it for the morning?" a grumpy voice on the other side of the room requested.
Everyone shifted their attention over towards the location of where the voice had come from to see an African-American man in his middle twenties with a close shave haircut and a slight back beard, wearing a grey hoodie and blue jeans. And despite their distance from him, some of them could see he was missing a chuck out of his left ear. "Some of us got to be up early." he told them.
"Sorry!" Lee apologized in a loud enough tone for him to hear.
"Sorry about that, Mike." Reggie also apologized to the man, who had now turned his back on them and placed his pillow over his head in an attempt to block out their voices.
Reggie shifted his attention back towards the others. "That's Mike. I won't lie, he's kind of a dick when he's tired, but... he was the one who saved my life, so...I put up with that shit. Bill put him together with me to work outside the wall with me."
"Reggie, I'm so sorry." Rebecca apologized yet again, still feeling that the entire incident was partial her fault.
Clementine folded her arms together while everyone else continued speaking with Reggie. She shifted her attention over to the other side of the room where a woman was sitting on a wooden bench table, merely staring at them. She looked Caucasian-American; she looked to be either in her late teenage years to middle twenties. She had extremely short hair with dirt smeared across her face, and she wore a yellow jacket with bluish jeans.
"Please, guys, stop with all the sorry." Reggie requested. "It was my choice to help, remember? Besides, he said once you were all caught, he'd let me rejoin the group, so...I'm glad you're here. I'm just joking. I mean, I am glad, but...I'm sure you guys didn't want to be brought back here."
"I know what you mean, Reggie." Rebecca replied, relieved that her old friend still had some of his previous humor left in him.
"I mean, he did say that...but, I'm not happy about it." Reggie admitted, rubbing the back of his neck with his one hand for a moment. "It's probably bullshit...But I got to take my chances if I want to get back into his group."
"Reggie, I don't see why you want to get back in his group." Carley admitted as she took her hands out from her pockets. "This place is a prison. And Carver's crazy."
"Prison?" Reggie chuckled. "This place is not prison."
"I know it seems like a prison, but this is place isn't that bad." Reggie assured.
Clementine continued to stare at the girl for a moment, feeling slightly uncomfortable with her constant staring. "Who's she?" she inquired towards Reggie.
"Who's who?" Reggie shifted his attention over towards the opposite side of the room to see who she was referring too. "The girl over there."
The unnamed girl got out of the bench table and made her way over to her bed to get some sleep for the night.
"Oh, yeah, her, right." Reggie now knew whom she was referring too and shifted his attention back towards Clementine. "Okay, so she's fucking weird. They found her sneaking around outside of the camp covered in guts and just, like the grossest stuff. Her name's Jane, I think."
"It's probably best not to stare." Rebecca told Clementine, who continued staring at the unnamed woman.
"I know how it must look to every one of you, but...I assured you, it's really not that bad here." Reggie assured them with a supportive grin across his face.
"Reggie." Rebecca sighed.
"No, I'm serious." Reggie reassured them. "Where else are you going to find food like we have? Where else can you find safety like we have? The community is getting more and more secure all the time. They even got the solar panels working...When was the last time you had electricity, huh?
That was not a hard question to answer, and Sarah was the one to speak up. "Well, we were just in a ski lodge with a wind turbine. It had electricity and food."
"Alright, point taken, but It's not a competition." Reggie replied, still trying to convince them that this community was a gift for them all. "I'm just saying, it's not as bad as you think. We're making something great here, guys. It's a real community. Bill, Tavia, Troy, and others are making it happen."
Lee and Clementine turned towards each other for a moment, both of them giving a look as they were saying "Is this guy out of his mind?"
"Carver killed our friend Walter." Clementine spoke up.
Reggie's face has changed into a sadly and somewhat shocked expression, leaving him silent for a few seconds. "Okay, I that does sound shocking, but...maybe Bill had his reasons-"
"Had his reasons? Are you serious? He fucking kidnapped us and is holding us here against like prisoners!" Lee shouted, curling his hand into a fist as he wanted to punch this man, but was held back by Carley and Clementine
"He's a crazy piece of shit that deserves to die!" Lilly judged him.
"Listen, guys, I am extremely close to getting let back into the group. If that does happen, I can do a lot more to help you guys be more comfortable here." Reggie reassured them, but deep down, he feared that these new people were going to ruin his chances of being out of this yard any time soon. "I've worked extremely hard to get to this point. Will you please just behave and try not to cause any trouble? Until they release me, at least? Then once I'm out, I could help you more. Maybe even help get you out."
Lee did not wish to get Reggie in trouble, despite the fact he did want to be in Carver's group, but there was a chance he could just be scared. "Alright, we won't get you in trouble, but that doesn't mean we won't force ourselves to like it here."
"Thanks, guys." Reggie thanked. "I am glad to hear you say that. I was worried for a moment."
"Well, if Carver's such a "great guy," I'm sure you got nothing to worry about." Lilly replied as she placed a hand to her hip.
"We can at least talk about it more in the morning. Just have a quiet night and chat again tomorrow." Reggie suggested.
"I can't believe what I'm hearing." Rebecca admitted, shocked and surprised to what her old friend was saying. "Reggie, that motherfucker killed Alvin, my husband! And you think I want to stay here?"
"Rebecca, please, if you work with me here, Carver can give us all a second chance." Reggie explained, but his words did not seem to convince them.
"Reggie...I don't want a second chance." Rebecca told him, wanting nothing more than to get out of here with her friend. "I want to leave with my family. That's it." She gasped when she felt her baby kick harder than usual and she placed both of her hands against his stomach. "I need to sit down."
"Your family is safe here, Rebecca." Reggie assured. "Going out there is suicide. It's better to stay here."
Sarita walked over towards Rebecca to help her sit down before she got even more pains in her stomach. "Come on, Rebecca. Sarah, can you go see if there's something for her to drink?"
"Okay." Sarah agreed.
"There's water over by the benches." Reggie assured, watching as the trio walked over to the other side of the room. "That didn't go as planned...should have actually made a plan."
Most of them group made their way to the small pit in the middle of the yard with chairs lined-up in a circle with a fire in the middle.
Lee merely glared at him and folded his arms together, shocked about man hearing all the stuff he spoke about this place being great. "Man... I don't think know if we can trust him. I don't know what he's been drinking, but everything he just said is a lie.
"I think he's just scared." Clementine admitted.
"Everybody's scared, Clementine." Lee reminded her. "It don't think that is an excuse to sound like a crazy man. We got to take a look around." Lee began walking off into a random direction.
Clementine caught up to him as he walked off into another part of the room. As for Carley, she stayed with the rest of the group around the pit.
"We got to know if there's anything we use to get out of here." Lee told Clementine, wanting to get a move on to find an escape plan. "We're in a bad place. We got to find something to get us out of here."
"Well...what should we look for?" Clementine inquired, stopping at the same time Lee had stopped.
Lee turned back towards the shutters and was able to take note of there being no guard outside. The only thing they had to worry about now was Reggie. "That Troy bastard is gone for now. This is our chance. Look around and see if you can find something to get us out of here. I will distract Reggie."
The first thing she decided to do during her investigation was speak to that Mike guy who had requested to be asleep for the night. She approached him and attempted to greet him. "Hello?"
The man did lean his head up for a moment, but his tone did not sound so charming. "Get lost."
"Will you please talk to me?"
"No. Get out of here."
"I just need-"
"Go!"
She gave up on him and approached Jane who had been staring at them earlier, and she was now lying on the ground with her head rested against her arm. Why would she sleep there when there are clearly multiple bunk beds for them to sleep on? The girl had suddenly leaned her head up and glared towards Clementine, startling her that caused her to jump in fear. Clementine backed away from her and allowed her to sleep peacefully.
Clementine continued her investigation while her guardian distracted Reggie from her. Hopefully that could get out of here as soon as possible. Who knows what Carver has planned for them, but one thing's for certain is that it would not end well.
And chapter 10 has been completed, folks. Everyone is now locked away in the yard without any means of escape whatsoever. They have met Reggie whom seems different and wants to stay in this community. Let us hope it will soon be time for them to band together to escape this place. Any questions: be sure to let me know in Private Messaging.