Alex's eyes were flew open as he felt as massive jolt ripple through the vehicle. Raising his head and looking around, he noticed that other than Kenny, who was driving, and Carley, sitting shotgun while cleaning her gun, everyone was asleep. Ben had fallen asleep sitting at the table, his face resting against it, while Lee and Clem had managed to find rest on the couch, the girl using the man's leg as a pillow.
Its hard to believe that it has only been three days since we lost Katjaa and Duck, he thought, as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Then again, its hard to believe its only been a few hours since we left the Motor Inn.
After the attack on their base, everyone was on edge; Alex feared that the slightest agitation, the smallest crack, would cause the whole group to shatter. It didn't help with Kenny and Lilly, who when not working diligently on something, focused all of their rage, grief, and sadness on each other, causing even larger arguments than before. At one point, it had gotten so bad, that Lee recruited Alex and Carley to keep an eye out on them, in case it escalated to violence.
Two days after the attack, Kenny called a group meeting, and after arguing with Lilly for a few moments, announced that he was leaving the Motor Inn the next day.
"I can't stay here: not any more; not after what has happened," the man began slowly, his hands clasped together tightly, as if they were the only things from keeping over the edge.
"I'm still plannin on goin on down to Savannah, to try and find a boat. No matter what has happened, I still think that's one of the best plans, and while I would rather leave some people behind," pausing a moment to glare at Lilly, "that's not what they would have wanted."
"So," he finished, "if anyone wants to come with me, I will be glad to have them. Just meet me in the RV. I will be leavin at noon, with, or without you." And with that, he turned and headed toward the RV, looking like he was carrying a great weight on his shoulders.
The rest of the adults began to discuss amongst themselves, trying to figure out what to do, Alex stood at the side, having already decided to leave. The discussion then turned into an argument between the adults, as each wanted to do something different.
"Fine!" Lilly shouted as stormed off from the rest of them toward her room. "If you want to leave, leave! This place is still the best we have of survival but if you want to leave, go right ahead, but if go out those gates tomorrow, know this: all it means is that you're against me, the Motor Inn, and anyone else who wants to stay!"
After that, it wasn't difficult to see that both Lee and Carla were going to go with Kenny. Lee, being the man he was, went to go try and cool off Lilly, while Carley went to go take care of Clementine.
Alex decided that he should go check on Ben. The teen blamed himself for the deaths of Kenny's family, and Alex feared that he might do something stupid. Or more stupid than normal, at least.
Alex remembered that it took awhile to for him to convince Ben that leaving the Motor Inn was the best idea, for both of them. Its not that leaving is the best idea for him, Alex had thought at the time, as he tried to make a point, but its more of what would happen when they find out? Who would he rather deal with: Lilly, or Kenny? Besides, while Kenny annoys me sometimes, I know that Lilly can't stand me or Ben.
Finally, the teen agreed reluctantly, before making Alex promise that he wouldn't say anything to the rest of the group about Ben's involvement in Katjaa's and Duck's deaths. Alex promised, not that he was planning on saying anything, anyway; it was up to Ben to come clean about his mistake now.
The next day began quickly, as everyone, except Lilly, helped load supplies and equipment on the RV; Lilly just made sure that nothing that she wanted was taken by "mistake." Carley, being fairly meticulous, made the group repack everything, twice, before she deemed it acceptable. Whenever someone tried to complain, Carley's helper, Clementine, got onto to them and sent them back to work; it was so adorable, it was hard for Alex to keep a smile off his face when she chastised him, until he would glance at Kenny, and the smile would vanish as quick as it had come.
By this time, it was late afternoon, and while some people thought that they should wait another day, Kenny was adamant about leaving. Lilly said goodbye to everyone, one at a time; some were obviously more heartfelt than others, like her giving Lee and Clementine hugs, but Alex figured at least she tried.
As Alex was about to get on the RV, Lilly grabbed him, and pulled him aside, so that the people in the RV wouldn't be able to see them. She glanced around around to see if anyone was there, before turning back to Alex
"Why Lilly," he said nonchalant, trying to cover up the fact that he was terrified, "this is so sudden. What would the rest of the group think?"
She glared at him for a moment, looking as if she was about to yell some obscenities at him, before taking a deep breath.
"Look, she started, trying to find the right words, "I don't like you, and you don't like me." Alex nodded at that. "But, there was someone stealing supplies from the group; I couldn't figure out who the culprit was, but," putting up her hand to stop Alex from saying that he was innocent, "I know it wasn't you. I may never know, but that doesn't really matter to me. The point is, someone in your group has been backstabbing us, and may do it again, so, all I am asking from you, is to look out for Clem, ok?
Alex nodded, afraid of what his voice would do. Lilly, giving him a quick, actual smile, before covering it up again with her impasse face. She nodded, and left, walking toward the gate to open it for them, while he climbed aboard the vehicle.
As they left the Motor Inn for the last time, Alex couldn't help but stare out the back window as the it slowly faded from view...
Slowly getting up, Alex cracked his neck and back, feeling as his vertebrae popped. For some reason, ever since he was a little kid, Alex couldn't fall asleep sitting on the seats in vehicles, so whenever he could, he would just lay down on the floor and fall unconscious; the problem with that: whenever he woke op, he was incredibly stiff.
"Alex." Turning, Alex saw that Carley was motioning him to come up to the cabin. He walked forward cautiously, being careful not to fall over and land on his fellow group members.
"Sleep well?" She whispered, when he finally made it up there. He took a moment to look outside, and seeing that it was the dead of night, figured he might as well stay awake.
"Yeah, nothing like sleeping on a floor," he replied sarcastically, giving her a smile to know that he was joking. She smiled back, and as she was about to reply, Kenny coughed, sounding as if he was getting sick. They looked over at him and Alex got his first good look at the man since the meeting.
The bearded man did not look well; it was obviously apparent that he had not slept for awhile. His eyes were bloodshot, his face pale and sweaty, his hands clenched on the wheel as if he was holding on to it for dear life.
Alex and Carley glanced at each other, sharing a worried look.
"Kenny?" Alex asked, causing the man to glance at him, before returning his gaze to the road. "Are you okay?"
The redneck nodded mutely, not bothering to really answer. Alex turned back to Carley, who just shrugged.
"I tried to get him to let me drive a few time, but all he did was glance at me, before going back to focusing on the road, as if there was nothing else around," she admitted, glaring at the man in the driver seat. "Even now, I'm not sure if he is really paying attention to us, or, more importantly, the road."
Just as Alex was about to defend his friend, he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head, the teen noticed something on the road just as the RV slammed into it, causing it go underneath. Soon, a sickening sound of something being dragged against the ground could be heard, forcing Kenny to stop the vehicle.
"What the hell was that?" he asked Kenny, turning to see if the man knew, but all the redneck did was sit there mutely, staring ahead into the darkness of the night. Alex sighed, grabbed his gun and started heading for the door leading outside. As he passed Lee, he noticed that the man had begun to stir, but Clem was still dead to the world.
"I don't know, but whatever it was, we need to remove it before it we go anywhere; if we don't, all it will do is cause more problems down the road," Carley answered, cocking her gun as she quickly followed him out.
As he stepped out of the RV, it took a moment for Alex to get his bearings; it was so dark that he couldn't barely see his hand in front of his face, let alone whatever was underneath the RV. He took a few steps out, trying to see if his eyes would adjust, but with no luck. Well, this is just great.
"I can't see a damn thing," Alex groaned, as he walked around the side of the vehicle, seeing nothing.
"Hey, go and get a flashlight from inside," Carley called out, as she lowered herself to the ground, to try and grab whatever was caught.
Alex started heading toward the door, when he thought he heard a moan. Not sure if it was his imagination or not, he raced inside, grabbed a flashlight, and hurried out, shining it around, trying to see if there was anything out there, but all he could see was trees and road.
"Bring that over here," she called as she started to reach her arm underneath. "I think I can see something..."
As Alex pointed the flashlight underneath the RV, Carley screamed as the thing underneath the vehicle bit down on her hand, managing to take off one of her fingers as she pulled back in panic. She started cussing, applying pressure to her wound, as Alex got down to take a closer look at whatever it was. When he realized what it was, he reeled back in horror, not for the creature's sake, but for Carley's.
The walker, after hitting the front of the RV, had bounced underneath. Managing to get caught underneath by his shirt, causing him to lose several body parts, yet somehow, his head was undamaged.
Through sheer dumb luck, Carley had placed her hand exactly where it could reach it. Shit...
"It was a walker, wasn't it?" Carley asked, causing Alex to jump from being startled.
"I'm so sorry, Carley," he replied, keeping his eyes downcast, giving her all the answer she needed. By now, everyone, except for Kenny, was out of the RV, and was wondering what was going on. Carley kept her back to the group, while Alex focused on trying not to break down in tears.
"Carley, what's wrong?" Lee asked, as he left Clem's side to go check on her. But before he even managed to make it two steps, Carley whirled around, throwing her arm out, giving everyone a good look at the wound. There was silence, as the group processed what they saw.
"Goddamn it!" Carley shouted, causing the rest of the group to jump, tears starting to appear in her eyes, "someone, please say something! Anything..."
Lee quickly moved and pulled her into a hug, which she returned. Ben, doing something that Alex wouldn't have expected from him, followed Lee's example and gave them both a hug, prompting both Alex and Clementine to join them, making into a group hug of sadness, fear, and loss.
They stayed like that for a little bit, before breaking it off, but remained standing near each other, not speaking, afraid of what had to happen. Finally, Ben spoke up, asking what everyone was afraid to ask.
"S-So," he stammered, "what do we do?"
The cocking of a gun, caused Alex to turn and see Carley, checking to make sure there was a round in the chamber of her gun. "Simple," she replied, trying to seem a lot more confident that she really was, "you or I put a round in my head, you take my gun, and you leave. Simple as that."
"No! We aren't doing that!" Alex shouted angrily, tears starting to well up in his eyes, causing everyone to look at him. "There has to be another way; something else we can do. Just not that...please."
"Hey, Alex," Carley said, as she pulled him into a hug, "it's my choice. This way, I won't put you guys at risk, in case I turn, or hold you guys back."
Alex didn't agree with that, wanting to argue that they would have helped her, but after getting to know her, he knew that she meant what she said. So, reluctantly, Alex let her go, as she began to move to each member of the group, giving them each a final farewell and a few words of wisdom.
"Ben, you have screwed up before, but don't let that stop you. You care about the people around you, and no matter what, you will do anything for them. Just make sure that when the time comes, you make the right decision on what needs to be done." Ben nodded, wiping his eyes, as he took the flashlight from Alex to try and get the walker out from underneath the RV.
Carley turned to Clementine, kneeling in front of the girl. "Clem, while you are young, you are able to anything you put your mind to. The world is not in a good place right now, and it will be difficult for you, but knowing you, I have a feeling you will be just fine. Especially with such a great caretaker," she finished, glancing at Lee, before Clementine jumped into a hug, sobbing. Alex could tell that Carley was trying to keep herself from crying now, but eventually the little girl let go, and raced into the RV, the sound of crying following her.
Carley got up, walked inside the RV, and the sound of her talking to Kenny could be heard. Both Lee and Alex moved to help Ben get the walker out, putting it out of its memory as they dragged it to the side of the road. Soon, Carley came out, walked over to Alex and gave him a hug.
"Alex, you are a great kid, but you put too much responsibility on yourself. You are only 16; you can't be in control of everyone's actions. No matter what, don't feel as if its your fault someone dies, because more than likely, its not. Unless you pull the trigger, it isn't your fault. Trust your instincts, and be yourself." She let him go and with a quick nod to Lee, the two adults grabbed the flashlight from Ben, and headed into the woods.
Alex and Ben headed back onto the RV, where Ben where back to his seat in the back, while Alex went to the couch to check on Clementine. She had finally stopped crying, but was still sniffling as she sat there. He sat down next to her, trying to figure out what to say.
"Clementine..." She turned to him, still looking very downcast, with tears in her eyes. "Are you going to be okay?"
She hesitated a moment, before answering. "I don't want Carley to leave..."
Alex smiled sadly, before wrapping an arm around her, which caused her to snuggle up against his side. "None of us want her to leave, but its her choice. She did it to protect us, and we should always remember that."
The girl looked up at him, processing his words. "I'm still going to miss her," she said softly, getting closer to him.
"Me too Clem, me too," he replied quietly, as he heard a faint gunshot off in the distance. He glanced down at Clem to see that she had fallen asleep, breathing peacefully, with not a care in the world. The world is so unfair...
Eventually, Lee walked back on the RV holding Carley's gun. Seeing that Clementine was settle, he gave Alex a sad smile, before going up to the front with Kenny. Alex felt his eyes begin to get heavy as the vehicle started, and soon, just like the little girl next to him, he was out like a light.
Hey there everyone! Sorry for the long wait; while I only meant for it to be a week or two between each, my family had some trouble, not to mention with a bad case of writer's block, has made it every difficult to write anything, let alone continue this. So, to everyone who has read this, reviewed, faved, followed, thank you. It means alot that you have still kept up with it, even though its not the best.
Also, special thanks to leafs nation; he's been a really big help and you all should check out some of his stories, including his most recent, You're on Your Own, Pal Part 2. I have throughly enjoyed it.
No guarantees about when the next chapter will be. I will try and publish it sooner, so please, bear with me. Thanks again!