The Walking Dead: Fight for Survival
Chapter 16: reunited
Here's the next chapter, everyone, and thanks for all the reviews on the last chapter. You're reviews help me to write more on these stories. In the meantime, here's chapter 16.
At Parker's Run where Bonnie, Mike, and Sarita were waiting for the others after successfully escaping the horde of walkers. Sarita was bitten, and by the looks of it, she did not have that long until reanimation. Who would be the one to put her down was a mystery none of them had yet decided.
Mike and Bonnie both were discussing the current situation at hand whilst standing just outside Parker's Run.
"Look, we cannot just sit here and do nothing while Sarita turns." Mike explained before folding his arms together across his chest. "What if they don't come? What if they didn't make it?"
"I know what you're saying, Mike, but they'll be here soon." Bonnie assured, but deep down, she was not so certain they would return in one piece, or not at all. Nevertheless, she had hoped they would return.
Mike turned around and faced towards the way they came when something caught the corner of his eye. It was like a miracle had happened, even in this day and age. He watched in shock for a moment when four familiar faces approached them. "I don't believe it."
"Wow, it's been so long since we last saw ya'll." Bonnie admitted to them when they were close and standing a mere couple of feet away from them. "We were beginning to think Mike and I were the only ones who made it."
"Well...Besides...You know..." Mike did not need to say her name for them to know who he was referring to. He turned around towards Parker's Runwhere Sarita was leaning against the fountain statue, barely holding onto life. Her skin was pale, her eyes were going yellow. She was not going to last much longer.
"Now that ya'll are here, I hope we can all make a plan." Bonnie suggested, trying to change the subject onto something they needed to discuss about.
"How is Sarita doing?" Lee inquired, although that was a question that he already knew the answer to. He just didn't want to bring out the worst words immediately.
Both Mike and Bonnie turned towards each other for a moment, their expressions tell each other that neither of them wished to say. But there was no avoiding the question, unfortunately. Mike was the one to answer. "She hasn't got long left. I hate to say it, but she's going to change soon."
"Who...Who's going to be the one to do it...?" Jane inquired, suspecting that no-one amongst their group had even through about that since witnessing that walker bite Sarita.
"Jane!" Rebecca snapped, still annoyed that Jane continued to say things like this.
"I know it ain't easy, but it's better if she never came back as one of them!" Jane explained, unable to imagine the unbearable pain of being a walker.
"I know it's a tough decision to make." Rebecca stated, not sure if she would ever bring herself to kill her. She never killed a walker since this world began and was not sure if she could start now.
"I know it's not easy, guys..." Mike admitted, never being one to kill a person who had not yet turned into a walker. Even with his strong strength, that did not make it any easier. "There are no walkers around here, and even one of them can draw many."
No-one responded to his statement. Instead, each of them walked into Parker's Run and spread out a little, getting to know the area a little better since they were new here and might be staying a while.
Lee took note that Carley, Luke, and Sarah were nowhere to be seen. He approached Bonnie to ask her, hoping she had at least seen her or if he was lucky, she may be here just not around this part. "Bonnie, have you seen any sign of Carley, Luke and Sarah?"
"...Sorry Lee, but we haven't seen any sign of them." Bonnie admitted, lowering her head slightly with a somewhat sad expression. "I'm sure they're fine though. We were beginning to think none of you made it, yet here you are."
"Thanks Bonnie." Lee thanked with a slight smile across his face. He stood with the others who eyed Sarita, who had fallen down onto her side and began coughing, meaning she did not have that much longer to go. He shifted his attention towards the others and did not wish to bring it up again, but it had to be done. "Guys...I think it's time...We...You know..."
"We know." Mike agreed, folding his arms together as he waited for whoever would be the one to volunteer and end her life to prevent reanimation. "Who's going to do it?"
There was no response. Clementine was too young to do something like this, although she has killed walkers in the past, Rebecca had no experience in killing people, Bonnie and Mike killed multiple walkers, but never someone who is alive. Bonnie had killed a person once, but it was an accident. Jane was not known to kill people. That leaves Lee.
He sighed as beckoned for Clementine to hand her the hatchet he lent her for protection. He faced the others while slowly walking towards Sarita. Lee remembered when he had to put down his brother long after he turned, and it did not make it easier to take another life. Everyone gave Lee supportive nods.
Once Lee knelt down to Sarita, he picked her up in his arms and proceeded to take her the tent to do this without anyone seeing. The sight of losing even more of their friends may just weaken them even more.
After Lee was out of everyone's sight, the remaining group faced each other and proceeded to discuss the next plan of action in order to take their minds off what just happened. Jane and Rebecca sat down while Mike, Bonnie, and Clementine stood up.
Mike was the first one to speak, and all he did was nothing but complain. "I hate just sitting around. We should get going."
"We need to give them some time, Mike." Bonnie replied, still willing to wait even longer for the rest of their group to return. "It's still a little early."
"I know, but it still doesn't help us figure out what we're going to do next." Mike stated, folding his arms together yet again as he stated the many reasons they should get going soon. "We don't have any food, any water; it's freezing as hell, and daylights burning."
"When everyone else gets here, then we can make a plan." Bonnie assured as she placed both her hands upon her hips. "Lee and Luke can help us make a plan."
"He's got a point." Jane agreed with Mike, joining in on their conversation after sitting in silence for a couple of moments. She stood up and continued speaking, stating the obvious facts that they should take into action immediately. "We can't just sit here and wait forever. Things are hard right now and soon we're going to have a baby to take care of."
"Oh, so now you care." Rebecca mocking said, recalling the many times Jane acted like a heartless and uncaring person.
"Well, it seems you guys struggling just got to me." Jane explained, placing her hand upon her torso. "That all right with you guys? I'm just trying to state the obvious."
"Well, you ain't exactly stepping up and volunteering to help here, are you?" Mike told her whilst placing both of his hands curled into fists upon his hips.
"We should find Carley, Luke and Sarah." Clementine suggested, joining in on her conversation after she remained silent during their conversation. "They might be in trouble, and they need help. Luke's still hurt by Carver and Sarah just doesn't know what to do without her dad."
"Clementine's right." Rebecca agreed, her face showing concern for the rest of their friends. "Even after everything that's happened, there's a chance they might still be alive. I say we go look for them."
For once, Jane actually agreed with her plan and decided to help out rather than just sit there and do nothing. She placed her hand upon her hip whilst telling everyone her plan. "I'll go and look. There's a mobile home park not too far up the road. Lee, Clem, and I should go and check it out."
Clementine nodded in agreement as she walked beside Jane with a slight smile across her face.
"Thank you, Jane." Rebecca thanked, and this was a first to see from her.
Before long, everyone shifted their attention towards the tent that Lee had gone inside to put Sarita out of her misery. He emerged out finally, his hatchet dripping with blood. He slowly walked towards the others, his face filled with sadness. No-one could imagine what it was like to kill someone who was still alive, but at least Sarita would not come back as one of them and she would be in a better place now.
Without saying anything, Lee shifted his attention towards Clementine and Jane and decided to make conversation, hoping to keep his mind off from what just happened. "What's going on?"
"I was going to go and look for the others. You and Clem want to come and help?" Jane offered, hoping it would not upset him after what he just been through. She remembered when she witnessed him beating down Carver, and that proved how dangerous he can be if he loses his temper.
"...Yeah...Yeah, sure, let's go and have a look." Lee agreed, shifting his attention towards the rest of the group to make sure they were protected. "You guys go something to protect yourself?"
No-one answered his question. Instead, each of them holstered their weapons up instead. Bonnie had an AK-47, Mike had a Glock 17, and Rebecca had a Colt Python she took from Carver after his death.
"All right. Jane, Clem, let's go." Lee replied, waiting for Jane to walk first for her to lead the way and for him and Clementine to follow.
Bonnie, Mike, and Rebecca watched as the trio walked away into the woods and disappeared and mere couple of seconds later. They hoped their friends would be able to find the others and bring them back here in one piece.
During the walk to the mobile home park Jane had suggested, the trio remained in silence as the continued walking through the woods, the cold weather blowing into their faces. They did not mind the cold and were determined to find everyone before it was too late.
Jane did a quick check on Clementine who was walking a couple of feet further from them, giving Lee and Jane to talk in private without Clementine hearing. "Lee...You do realize finding your friends is one out of a million chances."
As much as Lee did not wish to admit, Jane was right. Finding someone without no guidance or clues nowadays made this search extremely impossible. "I know it's tough, but we have to try at least."
"Yeah, I know." Jane agreed whilst she looked towards Clementine for a moment and had somewhat concerned expression for Clementine's well-being and decided to speak with her adoptive father about it. "Lee, I wanted to talk to you. About Clementine."
"...Okay..." he replied in a curious tone with an eyebrow arched. "About what?"
"How well does Clementine know how to take care of herself?" Jane inquired, she always wondered how a little girl could have made it this far. She hadn't seen another kid for a while until they arrived at Carver's camp. Exception for Sarah, that is.
Lee thought about her question for a moment whilst he made sure Clementine could not hear them. He did his best to keep her safe and tried to teach her new things, otherwise he might not have been able to protect her that well. "She knows how to use a gun and sharp weapons, and she keeps her hair short so walkers can't grab it."
"That's smart." Jane admitted. "But what about if you and Carley were never around? Have you ever thought about it?"
"I have." Lee assured, preparing for that day he would no longer be there to protect her since he first taught her how to use a gun.
"All right, Lee, but what about your group?" Jane inquired but not before she and Lee stopped in their tracks for a moment. "Your group looks like it's going to fall apart. I have seen this happen before. It is sometimes better to be on your own. If we do find Carley, you three should leave that group before they all start to turn on each other."
"They're good people, Jane. I trust them." Lee assured, but deep down, he did have to admit their group was not perfect either and had the occasional argument once or twice. "They all have a couple problems though. Things haven't been easy lately. I sometimes don't agree with that they say or do."
"Something we have in common then." Jane admitted as she began to pick the faults out of their group. "If we find Sarah, we do know what a liability she is at times. And Rebecca's 'situation'..." she gestured her fingers into a sarcastic air quote. "...Isn't making things easier either. There will be fallout with your group."
Lee was slightly surprised to what he was hearing. He could not imagine trying to survive in this world on your own. Heck, he could just about survive on his own when all this first began. "Jane, how can you possible get along without having someone to trust?"
"Its how I get along and how I'm still alive." Jane replied with a slight grin across her face. She, Lee, and Clementine stopped when they stumbled across and wrecked, rusty car. She continued to make conversation with Lee while the Jane searched the car for anything useful. "I do like most of your crew, but they do fall apart in the end. People die."
Lee paid close attention to every word she was carrying, but something she said puzzled him a little. If she believed that working alone was better, then why did she even bother to bring him and Clementine along with them? "Then why bring me and Clem with you?"
"You're a smart guy, Lee, and Clementine's a smart kid." Jane answered whilst she searched the inside of the car through the broken window for anything useful. "I'm just trying to give the tools to survive."
She leaned out from the car once she discovered there was nothing useful inside and continued the rest of her sentence. "Your weapons, for example. That hatchet you use is good, but can sometimes get stuck. That will be bad if you get into a situation where you're surrounded. And Clementine's jacket. It looks warm, but a walker could still bite through that."
Lee looked at this hatchet while Clementine looked at her jacket during the time Jane was speaking about their times.
"A leather jacket would be handy." Jane replied, folding her arms together across her chest as she thought back to a painful memory that continued to haunt her. "I had a sister who had one. I wish I still had it."
Her expression looked somewhat sad, but she walked away before it turned worse. She walked over towards the other side of the car and began to search in the back seat for anything.
Clementine, whom had been silent ever since they left Parker's Run, decided to speak up towards Jane. "I always wanted a sister when I was little. My babysitter, Sandra, pretend to be secret sisters in a little game we use to play...It was...Kind of silly, really."
"You never told me that." Lee replied with a slight smile across his face.
"Being a big sister...It was funny." Jane admitted as she leaned out from the car, again, not finding anything useful they could help them in the future. She finished up with the car and began to lead the way towards their destination again. "It was easy to be kind of mean. Hide her things, make fun of her hair even when I was the one who did that to her. I put gum in her hair."
"Wow that was quite mean." Clementine told her, now having second thoughts about wishing she had a sister when she was younger.
"Nothing I could do really. She and I were like best friends instead of sisters." Jane replied, for once, raising a smile across her face like she actually cared for once rather than looking emotionless all the time. "We always went to this amusement park every summer. The best part was that nobody knew us there, and we just pretended we were just friends."
Before continuing further, Jane cleared her throat and placed her hand upon her forehead when she saw something in the distance. "Jackpot! Guys, I think we're here. Let's go."
Jane began running towards the mobile home park, Lee and Clementine following her closely. They arrived outside their destination: Sunshine Mobile Home Park. The mobile home park was surrounded metal fences, wooden boards nailed along the fence, and barbwire wrapped around the top of the fence.
And lying just outside the perimeter were two dead corpses. Or so they seem dead at least, but then again, do walkers even sleep?
"We should search these walkers." Jane suggested as she knelt down to first corpse and stabbed it in the side of its head to make sure it was dead with her scratch awl. "Another lesson: make sure the undead or dead, dead. And corpses that look fresh can have useful things on them."
"Right." Lee nodded, shifting his gaze towards his adoptive Clementine to make sure she learned this. "Did you get that, Clementine?"
"Yeah, got it." she nodded.
"I'll search this one. Clementine, you keep watch." Lee said as he knelt down to the corpse Jane had just stabbed and searched it for anything.
Jane knelt down to the second corpse that had a gun holster belt around its waist and stabbed the corpse in its eye to make certain it was not coming back. "I'll search this one."
Lee continued to search through the dead corpse for anything useful. He found a couple of ammunition bullets that would definitely come in handy. The next and final thing he found were two driver's licenses that were obviously not going to be needed, and threw them away.
"So, that group...How long you guys known them?" Jane inquired as she took off the gun holster from its waist and placed it around her own. And as luck would have it, it had a Glock 17 inside the holster. "You three obviously don't fit it with them. You're different from them."
"Clementine, Carley, and I were all the same group together once." Lee answered while he stood up after he finished searching the dead walker. "We all use to live at a motor inn back in Macon. There were ten of us all together, even Lilly. Most of us died, a couple of us went our separate ways. And since then, we've just been moving."
"Nothing else you can do but keep moving nowadays, I suppose." Jane agreed as she stood up and adjusted her holster belt. "Did you find anything useful?"
"A couple of bullets and two driver's licenses." Lee answered, placing the couple of bullets he found into his back pocket.
"I doubt anyone's going to care if you have a license to drive." Jane replied in a joking tone, hoping to make light in this current situation. "Some people cling onto the past. I'd keep that ammo though. It's hard to get this ammunition lately. Here, I found a nail file. These things are great...My sister always had one in her purse. I always jabbed my hand every time I tried to put my hand in it...Come on, let's go."
Jane walked around the perimeter, searching for a way inside. Lee and Clementine followed closely, but Jane stopped when she stumbled across another dead corpse. She knelt down just for a couple of seconds and stabbed it in the side of its head. "Like I said, you can never be too sure if they're dead, dead. Here, help me move it."
Lee was unsure to why, but nevertheless, he knelt down and helped Jane rolled the corpse around onto its back. After he moved it out of the way, his expression changed into a somewhat hopeful one when he found something very familiar the walker was lying on top of. "Sarah's glasses."
Clementine picked up the glasses and placed them in her pocket. She now had a little hope that her friend may still be alive.
"I don't think she made it out, guys." Jane apologized, immediately assuming the worst when she saw Sarah's glasses. Without them, she could not be able to see that well."
"We don't know if she's dead." Clementine replied, refusing to give up hope that Sarah was still out there somewhere, either on her own or with someone.
"Look, guys, I know we want to find her, but-" Jane was cut off from her sentence when she heard muffled screaming coming from nearby.
"Get off!"
"Sarah, calm down!"
"Sarah, listen to Luke!"
"I don't believe it." Jane gasped, completely surprised that they may have just found their friends. Out of all their places in the world, they had been brought together. Either this was fate or just a very lucky coincidence.
"It's Carley, Luke and Sarah!" Lee gasped, eager to find a way inside as soon as possible. "Come on!"
The trio towards the next side of the sense and was luck would have it, they discovered a hole in the fence that was big enough for them to fit through. Lee stopped by the hole in the fence when Jane ordered him to stop for a moment.
"Lee, wait! You know this might not end up the way you want it to." Jane warned him, trying to prepare him for the worst. "Are you prepared for the worst?"
"If they're in there alive and not bitten, they're in trouble and need our help." Lee explained, but like Jane said: he was not prepared for the worst. "We can't wait. No-one will ever be prepared for the worst. Come on, let's go."
"Lee, wait!" Jane attempted to stop him for doing something crazy, but she was unable to stop him. Instead of waiting here and risking him getting himself killed, she got her scratch awl and followed him with Clementine beside her. "God dammit!"
Lee ran through the little park and leaped over a wooden fence like an athlete where he encountered two walkers. He raised his hatchet and stabbed the closest walker, killing it with one hit. He proceeded to finish off the next walker, but it suddenly collapsed down when it was attacked from behind.
Jane gave Lee a somewhat annoyed expression as she placed her weapon back into her pocket. "Lee, we need to slow down. We might run into hundreds of them. We need to take this easy."
Lee nodded in agreement and took a deep breath, realizing what he just did that could have got him killed. "All right...Let's take this slow."
Jane agreed and walked towards one of the trailers and ducked down behind it, using it for cover. She turned her attention back towards Lee and Clementine, whom knelt down behind her, and she gave them more advice. "Aim for the knees first. They easily fall down, and then you can just take them out with a knife to the head."
Lee nodded in response, assuring her he understood.
"All right. Let's see what we got here." Jane said, standing up again and peaking her head around the corner to observe the area.
A barricade made out from multiple homemade stuff blocked the way for two walkers, who tried to join the others to investigate the noise. On the other side of that barricade, multiple walkers had surrounded the trailer, trying to break inside. Lee immediately assumed that's where their friends were.
There was another dead corpse among them nearby and they were unsure if it was dead or not. And to top it off, there was a pickup truck near another mobile. Now all they had to do was figure out how to get there and rescue their friends without getting spotted.
That's it for this chapter, folks. They have found some of their friends, but not all of them, and Sarita has died from the infection. Can Lee, Clementine and Jane rescue Luke, Sarah and Carley from the walkers? Stay tuned for "Chapter 17: rescue" that will be here soon.