Woah, two chapters back to back! Amazing! Once again, I don't own Telltale Games or The Walking Dead.
It had been a few weeks since the shootout and eventual joining of the two groups. She had spent most of her time trying to be friendly and get to know them, and she and Duck were already friends with Rick's son, Carl. After the attack, they had found Kenny asleep in the room he shared with his family, and Duck had been hiding. Kenny had received quite tongue lashing from almost every member of the group, and it was a constant topic used to pick on Kenny. Kenny had declared the RV he had been fixing up a total loss, and it was now used to strengthen the barricade around the Motor Inn.
She had been drawing with Carl and Duck when it happened. Lee and Mark had run up to the gate, carrying a man who seemed to be missing a leg, and were accompanied by a teenager wearing a school sweatshirt. "Open the gate! We've got wounded!" Lilly had sprung into action, quickly followed by Rick, and the small group entered the small outside area. The gate slammed shut with a thud. Katjaa walked over and immediately saw the injured man. The questions thrown at the group were constant. "Who are those people? How did he get hurt? Why did you bring even more people?" Eventually Lilly had managed to silence the group and Katjaa began to examine the injured man. He was bleeding and unconscious just like Mark had been a few weeks ago, and if experience meant anything, the man would be fine and moving about in a week or two just like Mark.
The group had been interrogating Lee and Mark when Katjaa screamed. Kenny stood up faster then anyone else and screamed "Kat! I'm coming!" Clementine peaked over the teenager's shoulder and saw the zombified form of the injured man attempting to bite Katjaa. After a brief struggle, Lee and Kenny managed to put it down, and Lilly immediately began to question the teenager, whose name Clementine had learned was Ben. "Why didn't you tell us he was bitten! You could've gotten us killed!" The boy stammered and backed up. "What do you mean bitten?" A seething Kenny had intervened and shouted at the teenager. "YES! BITTEN!" A look of realization crossed Ben's face and he quietly spoke. "Wait...you don't know do you..." Kenny was beyond furious at this point and punched Ben in the face, sending the teenager sprawling onto the floor. Lee and Rick restrained Kenny as he kept screaming. "WHAT ARE YOU NOT TELLING US! YOU ALMOST GOT MY WIFE KILLED!" The teenager stood up rubbing his bruised cheek. "You-you don't have to be bitten to turn. If you die, you turn unless the head is destroyed." There was a collective gasp from everyone gathered around Ben. Kenny was the first to speak. "You son of a bitch, why didn't you tell us!" Ben was quick to defend himself. "I thought you knew! I thought it was common knowledge!" After a while, Lee and Rick released Kenny and he stormed up to Ben. Looking him square in the eyes, he spoke in a threatening tone.
"I. Want. You. Out of here." He then stormed away to the room he shared with his family, and was followed by Katjaa. Clementine did not understand why everyone was so mad, or why Kenny was being such a fool. Grabbing Lori's arm, she began to speak. "What did he mean when he said you don't have to be bit? Why is Kenny so mad?" Lori turned around and looked down at the little girl. "Well Clementine, that means that things just got even worse, for us, if that's even possible."
The next day, Kenny had still not emerged from his room. Clementine sat on the ground drawing with Duck and Carl. Duck was drawing a picture for Kenny, while Carl was drawing a picture of his dad in a police car. Clementine had decided to give Lee a present, and was drawing a picture of Carley and Lee holding hands. It was quite good for someone her age, and she was just adding the finishing touches when she felt someone tap her shoulder. She turned around and saw Lee looking at the picture, and she flipped it over to the blank side as fast as she could. Lee spoke. "What are you drawing sweetpea?" Racking her brain for an excuse, Clementine thought of the perfect one. "I was drawing a picture of Lilly and her dad that I was going to going to give to Lilly." A smile spread across Lee's face, as he had seen the picture and it looked nothing like the excuse Clementine had given. "That's awfully nice of you Clem. I'm sure she'll love it." With that, he stood up and walked over to Carley. Letting out a breath that she didn't realize she had been holding in, she continued to work on her drawing.
Later that day, the group assembled for what Lilly had said was a group meeting. Everyone suspected it was not what Lilly had specified, but kept their mouths shut. Clementine sat on the ground in front of Lee. Her cap fell off, and she turned around to pick it up when someone placed it back on her head. She looked up and saw a grinning Carley standing there. "Tricked you." With that, she sat down beside Lee. After everyone was there, Lilly stood up and began to speak. "I'd like to thank you all for your work in the past few weeks. We've gather a lot more food, but that's one of the reasons for this meeting. The area's dry. No more food or anything useful. Another topic I'd like to go over is the leadership here. I know that I've been the de facto leader for a while, but I have decided to share leadership with Rick." A few eyebrows were raised at that. Larry spoke up first. "What do we do if there's no more food?" Several others nodded in agreement with Larry, as they had been planning on asking the same thing. Clementine hadn't noticed a lack of food. To her, it was more then enough to feed a skinny 1st grader. "That's what I'd like to talk about. Rick and I have decided that we should move on." Mark spoke up and cut Lilly off. "You and Rick decided? What about us?" Lilly let out a sigh of exasperation. "If you hadn't cut me off, I would've answered that question. Tomorrow morning, we're going to put it to a vote." Most of the group nodded their agreement.
Lilly let the talking die down, then spoke again. "If there's nothing anyone else wants to talk about, then I think we're done." Nobody spoke up, so the group dispersed and went back to doing their usual activities. Clementine noticed Lee and Carley walking back to the room that they shared with Clementine. Now was the perfect chance. Quietly walking up behind them, she tapped Lee on the shoulder. Lee jumped into the air, which got a laugh from Carley. He turned to face Clementine. "Hey sweetpea. What do you need?" She nervously took the picture out of her pocket and handed it to him. "What's this? I think it's beautiful. Who are the people in the picture." She rolled her eyes. "Duh. You and Carley." Lee and Carley both smiled. "It's amazing Clementine. We love it." With that, they turned and walked into the room whispering to each other. It was so obvious they were in love. Even Clementine could see it. Yawning, she realized that she was quite tired. Being the spirit of a group of survivors was a hard job.
Another chapter down! See you next time!