The Walking Dead: Fight for Survival
Chapter 23: a night to remember
And we're back and here I bring chapter 23. And regarding the reviews about Carley, I know it was sad and hard to read, and believe it or not, it was more tough for me because I'm the one who had to write it. Still, at least I did not kill off Lee or Clementine. Hope you all understand that. But in the meantime, here's chapter 23. Hope you all enjoy reading.
The group continued walking through the cold snow of the forest, remaining in silence whilst doing so. Lee still did not say a word and continued marching through the snow, his eyes locked onto anything in front of him. No-one could imagine what he was going through at the moment, but they still left him alone.
Luke who was being supported by Mike due to his injured leg had taken a wrong step and caused himself great pain in his leg. He yelled out in pain as he collapsed down onto his side. "Argh!"
"Lee, wait, wait!" Bonnie called out to him when she saw Luke collapse. "We need to stop for a moment.
Luke was able to get back up onto his feet (with the help of Mike) and quickly assured Bonnie that he was okay for now. "No, no, I'm all right. I just need a minute. I just...I just put a bit more weight on my leg than I should have. I'm sorry."
Lee sighed and halted in his tracks and finally spoken after he had been silent for a while now. He turned back to the others whilst he sat himself won on a boulder. "All right, everyone rest up for a few minutes."
Mike helped Luke sit down on a log for him to rest for a little while. He too had an injury himself, but it was not that bad and the bullet had gone straight through so he did not need to worry about led poisoning. "Hey guys, I think I'm going to try and talk to Lee. See if I can check up on him."
"You sure about that Mike?" Bonnie asked, even despite the fact Mike was without a doubt the strongest member in their group.
"I'm sure." Mike assured, staring towards Lee for a moment who sat there and stared towards the ground.
"Well, in that case, take the baby." Bonnie suggested, gently handing the baby over into Mike's arms. "I know Lee isn't dangerous or crazy, but if he WERE to lash out on you, I don't think he'd try anything if you had the baby."
"Okay..." Mike skeptically replied, accepting the baby into his arms with a somewhat puzzled face. He never had much experience taking care of children, but he had no problem taking care of him.
After Mike had gone to try and speak with Lee, Clementine and Sarah joined Luke nearby and watched as Bonnie took a couple of medical supplies out from her backpack and prepared to help Luke with his injury.
"Clementine, can you give me and hand?" Bonnie requested whilst she got out a bottle of peroxide and tipped some down on a cloth. "Just put some pressure on his wound for a couple of minutes."
"Sure." Clementine replied, kneeling down beside Luke to assist him. She placed both her hands upon his wound and pushed down as much as she could, but at the same time, she tried not to hurt him.
"Is there anything I can do?" Sarah asked whilst she was holding her hand against her arm. Since the events of the trailer back, she did not want to be a burden to the group any further and wanted to make her father's sacrifice be in vain. She promised herself to be more useful, and she proved this by using a weapon.
"Uh, I think we got anything we need, thanks Sarah." Bonnie replied as she searched inside her backpack for some bandages. She could not find any and decided to go and ask Mike if he had any.
Luke was silent whilst Clementine kept pressure on his leg until he suddenly felt a sharp pain that caused him to jump up and yelp in pain. He curled one of his hands into a fist and tried his best to cope with the pain until it went. "Dammit, that hurt. Shit."
"How are you feeling?" Clementine asked as she repositioned her hands against his wound and pressed down against it.
"Does it hurt?" Sarah asked, unsure on what else to say at this point.
"Truthfully, this hurts like hell." Luke admitted, groaning in pain for a few more seconds until it stopped for a little while. He remained silent until Bonnie found the bandages, but for now, he was deep in thought. He could not believe that around ten days ago, he and the rest of the group were living a peaceful and safe live in the cabin, but now he was the only one out of the cabin group to still be alive. It all happened so fast. "How did we end up getting here like this?"
Clementine looked up towards him when he asked this sudden questions but she was confused to what he meant exactly. "What do you mean?"
"I mean how did we end up here?" Luke repeated, looking around his surroundings for a moment; only see the trees covered in the snow and the freezing cold air blowing through his air. "One day we were living a simple life in the cabin, and now I'm sitting on a log in the middle of winter with a bullet wound in my leg. Nearly all of my friends are dead...For no god-damn reason, and I couldn't do anything to save them. Almost everyone's gone. Nick, Pete, Carlos, Alvin, Rebecca...They all died, and for what? They never did anything to anyone. And I feel a little guilty."
Sarah lowered in her head when hearing the mention of her father. She wanted to cry, but she had no more tears to cry out.
"It wasn't your fault, Luke." Clementine assured, shocked that he would even blame himself for the deaths of their friends, even the ones who were not a part of his group. Pete was the first to go, then Nick, then Walter, then Alvin, then Lilly, then Carlos, then Rebecca, and then Carley. "You can't blame yourself for what happened to them."
"I don't know, Clem." Luke admitted, holding his hand up against his face. "I wish I could have done more. I wish I was at the ski lodge and maybe...Maybe I could have helped Lilly save them. I got to live with that now for the rest of my life..."
Before long, Bonnie had eventually returned with a blue cloth in her hand that would have to serve as bandage for Mike. She knelt down towards him and picked up the bottle of peroxide again. "We got the bandages, but this will be enough. Anything I miss while I was gone?"
"Nothing much." Luke answered, but he was somewhat lying and did not tell her what he just told Clementine and Sarah. "Just wondering when we going to get to this town, is all. And mostly me moaning about my leg. Right Clem?"
"Yeah, right." Clementine agreed, knowing he did not want to say anything further.
"Well, if something is wrong and you don't want to tell me, I'm fine with that." Bonnie reassured whilst she picked up the cloth with peroxide tipped on and pressed it gently against Luke's leg. As she finished cleaning his wound and began tying the cloth around it, she turned towards Clementine for a favor. "Clem, can you do me a favor and try to help Lee? He's been shot in the shoulder, and I don't want to risk it getting worse. I tried to help, but he told me he was fine. You've been with him for a long time now and I'm sure he will let you do it."
"Sure. I'll try." Clementine replied, standing back up as she proceeded to try and talk to Lee.
"Here." Bonnie handed her the bottle of peroxide and an extra cloth for her to use on Lee's wound. "It's going to sting, but only for a second. It'll clean the wound. I'm sure he can handle it though."
Clementine nodded in agreement and proceeded towards Lee who remained seated where he was. She passed Mike whilst she was walking towards him, and by the looks of it, he had gave up on trying talking with him. She knelt down to him and tried to get him to speak to her. "Lee...?"
Lee lifted his head and to her surprise, he spoke to her. "Hey Clem..." he greeted before he noticed the medical items in her hands. He already knew what she was planning, but decided to ask nevertheless. "What's that you got? Let me guess, you want to put that stuff on my wound? I'm fine, Clem, it's just a flesh wound."
"Can I please just take care of your wound?" Clementine requested, but even if he said no, she was still going to do it nevertheless.
Lee sighed in response, wondering why they sent his adoptive daughter to take care of him rather than one of them. "You know you shouldn't have to do stuff like this."
"If I can shoot walkers and survival with you for more than two years, I'm sure I can handle this." Clementine reassured, a somewhat inpatient expression across her face.
"Okay, okay, let's do it." Lee replied, slowly moved his hands up as he began to unbutton his shirt. He slowly took his left arm out from his sleeve and now waited for Clementine to do what she needed to do. "If you get nervous, don't force yourself to do it, okay?"
Clementine nodded in agreement as she opened the bottle of peroxide and tipped some of it onto a rag. She slowly moved it towards Lee and carefully pressed the rag against his wound.
Lee groaned in pain slightly louder than Clementine expected him to be when he felt and heard the sizzling pain, but he had worse. She remembered when he injured his leg the first day they met and was like that until they met Hershel. "Shit! Jesus."
"We already got one baby, we don't want two." Clementine said in a teasing tone. Even during the walker apocalypse, she still tried to have humorous moments when possible.
"Ain't that the truth?" Lee chuckled, and this was the first time she had him laugh in a while. Whilst she attended to his wound, he lifted up his other arm and placed it upon his face, feeling the bruises he received from Carver. "These bruises are going down at least."
"I should have taken the blame for the radio." Clementine admitted, wishing Lee had not taken the blame for her and got himself beaten down. "If I had taken the blame, Carver might not have been this vicious to me."
"Don't say that, sweat pea." Lee soothed, not wanting her to feel guilty for the actions of a mad man. "That bastard would have done the same to you. He didn't care if you were a kid or not. No telling what he would have done to you."
Finally, after a couple of moments had passed, Clementine finished tending to Lee's wound and wrapped the cloth around his wound. She stepped back and allowed him to put his shirt back on. "All done, Lee."
"Thanks, Clementine." Lee thanked with a smile now across his face, but she could still tell by his face that he was still sad due to Carley's death.
At almost perfect timing, Bonnie approached the duo, Mike, Luke and Sarah not far behind. "We all good to go?" she asked them, but only got a slight nod in response from them. "Good. Let's head out ya'll."
Now that everyone was rested and bandages, they proceeded their journey and hoped to make it back to the town before nightfall. And hopefully Arvo did not have any more of his friends lurking nearby.
A short while had passed since the group rested up and were now continuing their journey to the town. Lee led the way, Clementine and Sarah walked a couple of feet behind him (Clementine holding the baby), Luke and Mike walked together behind the girls but were a little slower due to Luke's injured leg, and Bonnie remained at the back.
Whilst the group continued walking, Clementine looked down towards the baby and raised a slight smile. She had never had the chance to hold a baby on her own, let alone even be in the same room as one. She liked having a baby in their group and had no problem holding him.
Sarah, who was walking beside her turned towards the baby and raised a slight smile. She was super excited when Rebecca had told her she was pregnant and could not wait for him to be born, and now he was here. "He looks so cute."
"Yeah, he's adorable." Clementine agreed, watching as the little baby who remained unnamed slept peacefully, even despite the cold weather. "You know, we haven't named him yet." she turned towards the others. "What should we call him?"
"How about naming him after his father?" Lee suggested, turning back towards the group for a moment but continued walking along the way. "Call him Alvin Junior."
"That sounds nice." Clementine agreed, lifting her head up away from the baby. "We call him AJ for short."
"I like it." Sarah admitted, but she did not mind what they called the baby.
"Sounds good to me." Bonnie agreed from her position which was at the back of the line they were walking in.
"And me." Luke also agreed.
"Me, too." Mike was the last one to agree on this conversation they were having with suggestions for the baby's name.
"And that settles it then." Lee stated now that he had everyone agree on the baby's name. "His name is Alvin Junior. I'm sure his mom and dad would have liked that."
As the group continued walking through the forest, treading against the cold snow they stumbled across a building structure. It was not the town they were heading to, but a small power station in the middle of nowhere. It had a fence around it which could be safe to keep walkers out if they decided to spend the night there.
The group halted in their tracks when seeing the power station and waited for Lee to say what they were going to do next. They all considered him to be a leader right now, especially after seeing what he was capable of and how intelligent he was.
Luke groaned in pain for a moment when Mike helped set him down another log. He sighed in relaxation, happy to be off his feet. "Thanks Mike."
"No problem." Mike assured before he proceeded over towards Lee to see what his plan was.
"What is this place?" Clementine asked, unfamiliar with that a power station looked like.
"It's a power station." Lee answered but not like it was obvious to what it was. "Looks like a good place to hold up for a while. If no walkers are around."
"Well, it is getting dark." Bonnie stated the obvious as she stood beside Lee and placed both of her hands upon her hips. She looked back at everyone in the group and noticed how tired they looked, and they needed sleep. "We should stop for the night. I don't think we're going to make it to that town by today."
"Sounds good to me." Clementine agreed, really needing to rest for a while after walking for so long, and this cold weather did not make it any easier. "I need to stop for a while. We could all use a quiet night for once."
"I'd like that." Bonnie agreed with Clementine.
"Yeah, me too." Luke also agreed.
Lee turned towards the sky and did take note of how late it was, and walking in the dark nowadays was extremely dangerous. Even as the active leader, he still let them make decisions as a group. "All right, we'll stay at this place for the night. Anyone object to that?" no-one replied. "Good. We better check it out first though. I'll go. Anyone want to come with me?"
"I'll come with you." Bonnie offered whilst she picked up Luke's AK-47 just in case there happened to be a small horde of walkers inside and they needed to fight their way out.
"Everyone else stay here." Lee ordered, taking out his Glock 17 out from his back pocket. Before long, he and Bonnie made their way towards the power station, hoping it was not filled with walkers. They already saw enough trouble for one day and did not intend to run into more.
Seconds after they were gone, Clementine shifted her attention back towards AJ when he began to cry. She looked up towards the others, but knew for a fact she was going to have to handle this one all on her own.
"Uh-uh. That's your job." Mike declined, crossing his arms together as he stood beside Luke.
Sarah merely watched, her too not knowing what to do with babies and how they needed to be taken care of. She wished her dad was her due to him being a doctor, he could have helped. She missed him so much.
Clementine slowly rocked the baby side to side in an attempt to get him to calm down, but he continued to cry. She stuck out her tongue and put on a funny face in front of AJ. To her relief, this caused him to stop crying and now he simply stared at her.
"Nice going." Mike praised, unsure if he could have been able to stop AJ from crying if he was in Clementine's shoes. "I didn't think they could work."
"Me neither." Clementine agreed, smiling now that the baby was nice and calm. She slowly began to rock him side to side, hoping to keep from crying again. "I think he likes me. He stopped crying when I did that funny face. I think that's a good sign."
"You're so good with a baby." Sarah admitted, holding her hand against the center of her arm like she occasional did.
Clementine had just realized that Sarah was the only one who had not yet had the chance to hold AJ, possibly feeling uncomfortable or nervous if she did. "Want to hold him?"
"Oh, um...No...No thanks." Sarah nervously declined, unsure if she was ready to hold a baby. She was scared of holding him, worried she might drop him back accident. "Maybe...Later?"
"Yeah...Sure." Clementine replied, knowing full well that Sarah was nervous about holding AJ, but maybe she could try again later when they were somewhere safe.
Before long, Lee and Bonnie had returned from the power station in one piece, and made their way over towards the group. They stopped down the slope of the hill, and Lee was the one to give the all-clear. "Okay, it's safe. Everyone can come inside now."
Mike helped Luke get back onto his feet and Clementine continuing supporting the baby as the four of them made their way down to the power station. It did look like a good place to spend the night until they continued their journey towards the town. They just prayed that no-one else in the group would die after all that's happened.
Night time had arrived shortly after the group made their way inside the power station. The remaining members sat together under and in between a couple of power boxes and sat in a circle around a fire that they lit up to keep them warm, especially in this weather.
Luke sat with his back pressed up against a power box, Bonnie sat next to him on a wooden box, Mike sat with his back pressed up against the fence, Sarah sat beside Mike, Lee sat on the opposite side of Luke whilst holding AJ in his arms, and Clementine sat near the open area of the power station. The group was in silence as they stared into the fire, but it was soon broke when Luke decided to announce something.
"Today's my birthday." Luke declared, immediately catching everyone's attention. He did not know what else to say at this point, but he tried to make conversation with everyone. "Well, at least it's near as I can remember. I know for a fact it's this week."
"Happy birthday, Luke." Clementine wished him, now with a smile across her face when he announced this.
"Yeah, man, happy birthday." Mike joined in on the celebration.
"Happy birthday, Luke!" Sarah was the last one who wished him a happy birthday, but she sounded a little more enthusiastic than the rest of them.
"Thanks everyone." Luke thanked, and for the first time, he felt better than he did earlier today. He felt like things were normal again where there were no walkers.
"How old are you?" Lee inquired, him too wishing Luke a happy birthday. He seemed to be doing better than earlier and was finally speaking with the group again, but they could all still tell that he was in sadness.
"I'd say around 27." Bonnie guessed, thinking back to the day when she first met Luke at Howe's Hardware and how she got to know him better. "That right?"
"Well, yeah." Luke answered; somewhat surprised that Bonnie remembered his age. "I'm surprised you remembered. But truthfully, I feel a lot older than I was before. I'm surprised any of us still remember how old we are."
"Oh, I'm sure some of us still remember our age." Bonnie replied after she kept track on how old she was since the apocalypse began. "I'm 26."
The rest of the group turned towards each other for a moment before they raised their hands and announced their ages. Lee, Clementine, Sarah, and Mike all spoke their ages in turns.
"I'm 39."
"I'm 11."
"I'm 15."
"And I'm 34."
Luke made a short chuckle for a moment as he looked down towards the ground. "I remember when things were normal and the dead weren't taking bites out of everyone's flesh. I finished college about five years ago, but it feels like it was a long time ago. Well, on the bright side, I ain't got to pay off those student loans."
"Amen to that." Mike agreed. "I bet there's some asshole sitting on his ass and waiting to collect."
"Maybe." Luke grinned.
"I should know what it's like." Lee joined in on their conversation with a grin across his face. He too thought back to the good days when things were normal and he had a great job at the university. "I use to work at the University of Georgia. Always filling in paperwork and grading students work. What a great job, it was."
"I always wanted to go to college." Bonnie admitted, but she never had the chance to due to her drug addiction in the past. "Never got the chance."
"What did you study at college, Luke?" Clementine inquired, now eager to find out what he did for a living. Last time she remembered hearing information of Luke's past was from Nick, who informed her that they tried to start their own business together, but ended up going broke. Nevertheless, they didn't care and were having fun.
"Majored in art history." Luke answered. He looked away for moment and shook his head side to side slightly, remembering how difficult it was.
"That's cool, I guess." Clementine admitted, her too being a fan of art when she was younger. She always use to draw pictures back at the motor inn that made her feel happy.
"What happened? Did you end up getting a job at McDonalds?" Lee asked in a teasing tone. He decided to try and make a couple of jokes whilst they were enjoying themselves for a while.
"More like a coffee shop." Luke responded that caused Lee to chuckle. He did not seem offended by his joke and took it as a compliment. "But I did get a minor in agriculture. It kept my old man happy." he closed his eyes for a moment and thought about his parents who he lost a long time ago.
Bonnie had just remembered something that was inside her backpack, something important that she had stolen from Carver's base and had been saving for a while now. "I almost forgot." she took out a bottle of rum and held it up. "I was saving it for a special occasion, but since it's your birthday, I think now is a better time than ever."
"Where did you get that?" Clementine inquired; surprised that she somehow required a fresh bottle of alcohol.
"Bill liked to keep all liquor locked away back at Howes. Before we escaped, I thought I'd take a bottle with me." Bonnie explained whist she opened the bottle and prepared to have a drink. She could certainly use one after everything that has occurred. She handed the bottle over to Luke and allowed him to take the first sip. "Here you go, Luke."
Luke accepted the bottle and raised a slight smile, not remembering the last time he got to have a decent drink. "I feel a little guilty having the first sip-" he was about to have a drink before Bonnie suddenly stopped him.
"Whoa, whoa, wait!" Bonnie stopped him from drinking and reminded him what people are supposed to do on their birthdays: to make a wish and a toast. "You got to make a toast."
Luke had never made a toast in his entire life and was unsure on what to say. "Oh, um, well...I kinda don't know what to say."
"Come on, birthday. You're not having a drink until you make a toast." Bonnie told him in a teasing tone. She waited patiently for him to make a toast.
"Come on, Luke, make the toast." Mike requested, obviously eager to have something to drink. "I could do with a drink. After all, you make a toast that means we all have something to drink."
"Or we could just pass the bottle around and let everyone have one a sip at a time." Bonnie suggested, shifting her attention back towards Luke as she waited for his answer. "Come on, now. Let's hear that toast."
Luke knew there was no way for him to get out of this. He cleared his throat and raised the bottle of rum into the air as he began his speech. He would stand, but due to his injured leg, it was best if he remained where he was. "To our family, our friends and our loved ones that we've lost along the way, and to the hope that we see them again someday. "
Lee looked away for a moment when he heard the mention of family, friends and loved ones, thinking back to everyone who he cared for. His brother, his parents, Carley...If he ever lost Clementine, he could not imagine what he would go through. He looked up to Luke again and smiled. "That speech is good enough for me."
"Here, here." Mike cheered, accepting his speech to be a good one.
"That was nice, Luke." Bonnie praised, now allowing him to have a drink now that his speech was over.
"Never meant to rhyme." Luke admitted, lifting the bottle of rum up and taking a short sip. He had to admit it burned his throat a little due to the amount of time it had been since he last had alcohol, but he enjoyed it nevertheless.
Before long, Lee had decided to get up and keep watch for the night just in case walkers were to arrive, but it looked pretty peaceful for the night. He first approached Sarah and without asking, he gently handed AJ into her arms. "Here. Watch AJ, Sarah. I'm going to keep watch for a while."
"Oh, wait, uh..." Sarah did not get the chance to protest as little AJ was handed into her arms. She nervously looked away as AJ simply stared at her.
"The fence is pretty secure, Lee." Mike assured, wondering why Lee would want to keep watch when they were clearly safe.
Little did Mike know is that Lee actually just wanted to be alone for a while and needed to think things over. He turned back to the others for a moment and assured them he was fine and thought it was the best thing to do. "You can never be too safe. I won't be long." he proceeded to walk away from the group.
Clementine was about to call him back, but Bonnie spoke first.
"Let him be, Clementine." Bonnie suggested, knowing Lee still needed some time on his own for a while.
"Thanks Lee." Luke thanked, merely watching as the older man walked away from the group and made his way over towards the other end of power box. He decided to have another sip of the rum with it being his birthday and all.
Bonnie turned towards Sarah for a moment and noticed her looking quite nervous whilst she was holding AJ. She offered to hold him just in case AJ began crying a second time that would make her more nervous. "Sarah, you want me to hold him?"
"Oh, uh..." Sarah was about to say yes, but instead, her nervous attitude had changed when the baby smiled at her and this caused her to smile too. She no longer felt nervous about holding him and felt like she could hold him for a while. "That's okay, I got him. I can hold him, if that's okay?"
"Of course." Bonnie agreed, now relieved to see Sarah less calm than before. She got back to another subject one Sarah was comfortable with holding AJ and accepted the bottle from Luke and decided to have a sip. "Been a while since I had a drink. I hope I don't get carried away with that stuff."
"You know they say a drunken man's talk is a sober man's thoughts." Mike said, but why he suddenly brought that up was unknown. "Just saying."
"Well Einstein, I ain't any man." Bonnie replied with a slight grin across her face. "So whoever said that can take that shit somewhere else."
Mike merely shrugged in response, but still kept a grin across his face. He accepted the bottle from Bonnie when she offered it to him, and he did not hesitate to take a sip. He swallowed the rum and sighed in relation, relieved to have a decent drink for once.
"Hey Clem, why don't you got try talking to Lee and see if you can get him back over to the fire?" Bonnie suggested, and this left Clementine confused for a moment since Bonnie said they should leave him alone for now. "I know I said we should leave him for a while, but I don't think he should be sitting in the cold like that. Try to talk to him. See if he'll come back."
Clementine nodded in agreement as she stood up and proceeded over towards where Lee was keeping watch, leaving the rest of the group to talk among themselves for a while. She approached Lee who sat down with his back against the power box, looking off into nowhere. "Hey..."
"Hey, sweat pea." Lee greeted, turning his attention towards her. He sighed when he noticed her looking at him with a concerned face. "I just needed to be alone for a couple of minutes." he looked off into nowhere again whilst Clementine sat down beside him. "...I miss Carley...I miss my parents...And I miss my brother...I never helped out with the family business that much. I wanted to teach history rather than help out at our pharmacy. I thought it was the right thing to do what I dreamed of...I would give anything to see them all one more time."
Clementine knew what he was going through, especially when she witnessed her parents as walkers with their arms and mouths cut off and rope around their necks. That stranger who filled her with lies and possibly would have tried to take her if he got the chance. "Maybe we will all see them again one day."
"I hope so, Clem." Lee agreed, looking up towards the ski for a moment like he could imagine Carley and his family staring down upon him. He turned back towards Clementine and noticed her trying to warm herself up. "You should get back to the fire. I can handle watch duty."
"Come with me." Clementine offered, wanting them to join the rest of this night while it lasted. "When was the last time we had fun and enjoyed ourselves? We should make it last."
Lee had to admit that she was right. He did not enjoy himself since the walker's had risen and took control of this world. He remembered when they went to the St. John's farm and though it was a good place to live freely, but then they remembered what they turned out to be. "Sure. Was freezing my ass off out here anyway. Let's go."
Clementine smiled as she waited for Lee to stand up and walked aside him back towards the group. She knew Lee was strong and would try his best to lead this group to safety, even if it meant costing him his own life. She could not be more grateful to have someone like Lee take care of her.
Well, that brings us to the end of this chapter, ladies and gentlemen. Will Lee and his group make it to the town without encountering more trouble along the way? Keep you updates open for the next chapter which will be here as soon as possible.