Episode 1: The Fallen Rise- Cleanup on Aisle Three
A/N- Most of you guys asked for it, so after this one, chapters will be much longer. Now let's get to it.
Clementine and Dustin entered through the main doors, stepping over the broken glass relatively easily but still. The interior was dank and dimly lit. To their right, there were two registers and checkout aisles and to their left was a main path where they had access to other grocery aisles. The shelves where food would reside were already picked clean and the fact that beyond what they could see was unknown did not help their apprehensiveness.
"Clem, no way in hell are we splitting up in here to cover more ground. Just... stick close, alright?" Dusty stated cautiously.
"I can take care of myself." By now, Clem did not appreciate the babying of others. "I'm not a helpless little kid."
(?) Dusty will remember that.
"Well fine, I won't treat you like one." Dusty retorted. "But it's just goddamn sensible. It ain't like a movie this is real life, Clem."
"Okay, sorry. I just wanted you to know that." Clem apologized thinking she talked out of place. But she wanted to make that clear to Dustin. "I'll watch your back."
"Thanks. I'll take point." He nodded, glad that they could get on with it.
The two of them went left, and they went across the different columns of empty shelves and the blood stained floor. They passed aisle one... it was pretty dark, aisle two... it was unusually quiet too, neither of them wanted to make a sound, and the only light that was provided was sunshine that came through the nearby windows. It soon began to smell too, a rotten smell. Clementine could see piles of fruit on display in the adjacent corner. They had molded and blackened in color, it was only about now that the two of them realized how many flies and bugs were in here.
"Maybe this wasn't the best idea..." Dusty whispered as they came up to aisle three, the freezer aisle.
*groaahhh...*
Clementine turned around and noticed several walkers had revealed themselves. Unfortunately, they had hobbled around from aisle two, blocking their exit. Before they even realized it, they were surrounded by lurkers in every direction! "Dusty, where do we go? There's too many of them."
"They're coming outta the damn woodwork, lemme think, just give me a second." Dustin looked around for a means of escape. Their whispering and their living smell was enough to draw the lurkers closer and closer... and the two survivors backed up into the freezer aisle. "Fuck! They're coming from both sides, Clem!"
Clementine looked around and saw that their only viable option was to escape. "In here!" The twelve year old grabbed and opened two of the six freezers glass doors so that they could climb in. "Hurry!"
Dustin nodded and climbed inside one and was quickly followed by Clementine, who shut the door behind her before a walker could reach in. The two of them had crawled through the metal shelf racks that would house the frozen pizzas and lasagnas, and they both came out in the stock section for these frozen items. It would usually be cold in here, with freezing temperatures, but without electricity it was lukewarm in here. And the walkers that were pursing them were trying to claw and bang their way through the glass, they weren't out of trouble yet.
"That ain't gonna hold them back. We gotta hurry before we're neck-high in walkers." Dustin went to the back door of the frozen stock section and realized something. "This door should take us to the loading bay," He tried to open it but it was locked from the other side. "Fuckin' shit! We're trapped like rats in here!"
"Calm down Dusty, we'll find a way out." Clementine comforted him. She realized the severity of the situation, and they had little to no time to figure this out. But panicking would do them no good whatsoever.
"Calm down? This is my fault! Why was I so fuckin' stupid that I thought there would be supplies in here!? It's picked clean! Emptier than my stomach!"
"Please don't talk about food now, I'm hungry too." Back in Wellington, food was rationed and everybody had only one meal a day, and you could choose between breakfast or dinner. That was it, and that was why Vaughn and Xavier sent people outside the wall to look for food or to go out and fish by the lake. "We'll figure this out."
"It's locked Clem, and these things are sealed tighter than a tank to keep everything cold. You got a better idea?!" Dusty argued as he took a step back and threw his entire weight into the large door which it did not yield for him. "Fuck..."
*crack*...
*Rawrhhh!*
*Crack*
"The doors are cracking... oh shit no..." Dustin held his breathe as he began tackling the metal door again and again. "No! No! I am not going out like this! No fucking way! Clementine, find something we can use!"
Clem gave a quick scan of the room and found nothing useful that could help them in this situation. They were really in the shit now. "There's nothing in here Dusty!"
Clementine's heartbeat quickly rose as one of the freezer doors broke through! *RAAAWH!* More and more of the freezer doors cracked and broke as the walkers began to inch and reach for their new meals... They had to do something!
[Help Dusty with door]
[Cover Dusty]
"I'll cover you." Clementine pulled out her gun and aimed it at the incoming attack of crawling lurkers. "Just get the door open!" This wasn't the target practice Clem had in mind either, this was the real deal and it had been months since she fired a gun.
*BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!* *BANG!*
Every shot had counted as she made four head-shots on four walkers, but that was only just a sample as more lurkers were drawn to the gunfire. They began clawing their way through the metal racks as they just did and out onto the stock space they were cornered in.
"It's not budging!" Dusty came to Clem's side as he raised his rifle. "Alright, let's get as many as we can and wait for an opening!"
"There's too many! They'll swarm us!" Clementine realized the horrific end that may occur for them.
"Don't say that! Just shoot!"
Suddenly, the freezer entrance door that they were trying so hard to break through, swung open from the other side with ease. "Come on!" Adorning a new black eye-patch on his left eye, Kenny was standing in the doorway, beckoning them both to get the hell outta there. "Let's go, now!"
"Kenny!" Clementine greeted as she and Dusty ran out of the stock space for frozen foods, and Kenny slammed the door shut behind them, along with locking the damn thing.
Panting, Dusty and Clementine trying to make sense of what just happened. The three of them were in the main stockroom for dry goods. It was a much bigger space, and wooden pallets and dust were all over the floor. It was just big empty storage, and the twelve year old whirled around and spotted the back exit behind them, next to the sliding shutter door that could raise up for trucks that would deliver the food. "Clem, you okay?"
"I'm okay Kenny. You really saved us back there." Clem gratefully smiled.
"Think nothin' of it darlin'. I'm glad you're safe." Kenny returned the grin and then he turned to Dusty. "Heard all the bangin', thought it was walkers at first then I heard the gunshots. ...So I gotta ask, what the fuck is wrong with you? Bringin' a little girl in a shithole like this?"
"Look, it was a dumb idea and I'll admit that. But in my defense I thought there would be some supplies we could get in-!"
"You think there's gonna be food in grocery market more than three years into the fuckin' apocalypse?" Kenny berated him. "You almost got yourself and a little girl killed! You have any idea how stupid that was?!"
"Kenny, he already said it was a dumb idea, so stop shouting or you'll bring the walkers back here." Clementine chimed in.
"There's a forklift blockin' the other door. They're not getting in here..." Kenny pointed over by the small yellow forklift assuring her as he was about to reload his threats on Dusty. "Now you put that girl in danger again and I swear to god-!"
"I'm sorry okay? I'm sorry!" Dusty did indeed feel scared of Kenny, because he actually believed the one-eyed man's words. "It was mistake on my part, but I promise that won't happen again. Not if I can help it."
Kenny looked seemingly satisfied. "Good, you better." He then turned back to Clementine, it was only then that they noticed Kenny had a grey backpack on. "Clem, this is as good a time as any so..." He took off his pack and unzipped the top, and he pulled out a small leather jacket just her size. "Found this... thought you could get outta that ratty old blue one and get you something new, something a walker would have trouble biting through. It'll help."
"Thanks Kenny." Her thoughts reminisced back to Jane again as she took off her old blue coat and put on the new leather one. She zipped it up, fit perfectly. "How do I look, guys?"
"Wish I had one like that." Dustin commented as he crossed his arms, nodding his approval.
"What? No Kevlar underneath yours, soldier boy?" Kenny quipped as he added his approval for Clem. "You look a lot safer darlin'. Lee would be proud."
"Hm? Who's Lee?" Dustin questioned them.
Clementine, wanting to change the subject, decided to officially introduce the two men with each other. "Kenny, this is Dustin. He likes to be called Dusty. And Dusty, this is Kenny. We're old friends, I came into Wellington with him and baby AJ."
"Hey." Dusty extended his hand for Kenny to shake it, and it was also a symbolic sign for peace between them. "Clem's a good kid, so I suppose we should start over, for her."
Kenny was skeptical at first, but after he and Clem exchange a trusting look, Kenny takes his hand and they firmly shake. "Alright. I can do that, for her."
(?) You got Kenny and Dusty to shake hands.
"How is Alvie by the way? I saw him before I went off this morning. They still treating him right?" Kenny quickly inquired from Clementine.
"Yeah. AJ's doing good. They're taking good care of him." She informed him as he responded with a relived smirk. "We should probably get going though."
"I agree, the drop should be right past that door out there." Dusty pointed as he walked towards it.
"What's he goin' on about?" Kenny inquired again from Clementine. "What were you two doin' out here in the first place?" He asked as he put his backpack on.
"We're here to pick up a supply bag for Xavier. It's really weird, even Dusty doesn't know everything."
"Really? Well, that don't make a lick of sense." Kenny crossed his arms as he and Clem followed Dustin towards the exit. "Why not just take it directly to the Wall? ...Something ain't right Clem."
Dusty opened the door and fresh air and sunshine blasted through into the dark death-filled store. The three of them stepped out and into the back parking lot. They hopped down from the loading dock and onto the pavement, right next to a closed dumpster on wheels. To the right corner, they could see a pile of three dead walkers rotting in the sun. To the left side of the lot, they found a white cherry picker truck with it's crane and basket folded and down to the starting position next to a bare telephone pole.
"This day just keeps getting better and better..." Dusty sighed as he headed towards the truck.
And Kenny and Clementine looked up at the top of the telephone pole... there was the duffel bag, slung up there far above their reach...
A/N- Kenny and Clem are back to working together, and the three of them face a conundrum. Our first puzzle for Season Three, how will they get the bag down safely? And what could be in the bag that is so important? Find out next time, so stay tuned.