"Come on down, Alex! We're waiting for you!"
Alex slowly opened his eyes and after a quick stretch, got up and went to grab his pistol off of the dresser. As he started for the door, Alex felt the nagging feeling that something wasn't right, but since nothing seemed out of the ordinary, he shrugged and walked out the door. Walking down the stairs, he noticed that the group seemed to be having a good time: Carley and Katjaa were sitting in the lawn chairs and laughing about something, while Larry and Lilly appeared to to be deep in discussion about something; Kenny and Mark looked as if they were working on the RV, trying to get the thing to run, as Chuck sat on top of it, playing the guitar he always had with him. By the time Alex reached ground level of the Motor Inn, he was sure something was wrong, but he just couldn't figure out what it was.
"Alex, hurry up! We can't start without you!"
Alex turned to see Clementine and Lee, waving him over, while Ben and Duck were passing a ball to one another, with Ben obviously struggling with it.
"You alright, Alex?" Lee asked, a smile plastered across his face, as Alex walked over. "You look as if you seen a ghost."
"Yeah, I'm fine," he responded, glancing around in an attempt to figure out what was wrong. "I just feel as if something's off, that's all."
"Well, there was always something off about you, so I'm not surprised." Alex heard someone laugh from behind him.
Alex whipped around to see... "Rachel? What are you doing here?!
Rachel was standing there, dressed in her usual outfit of jeans and some rock t-shirt that featured bands that Alex had never even heard of. He rubbed his eyes, making sure that he wasn't seeing things, but she was still standing there, giving the usual look of playfulness.
"Well, your dad and I decided to come see how my loser of a best friend was doing." Alex ran over and gave his friend a bear hug, who returned it just as strong, as the feeling that something was messed up got stronger. Suddenly, he processed what he had heard.
"Wait, Dad's here?"
"Of course I am, son. Where else would I be?"
Looking over Rachel's shoulder, Alex saw his father standing there, smiling like his usual self.
"Dad, you can't be here..."
"Why's that?" The man asked, his smile seeming frozen on his face, as blood began to run down his arms and off of his head.
"Because, you're...," Alex started, finally realizing what he had been feeling was wrong, "dead." Looking at the man, he watched as his father's arm fell off, and a hole appear in his head, blood streaming from the injuries. "And, so are you, Rachel."
Pushing the girl back, he saw she was now covered in blood as well, with most of her clothes ripped and torn. She still had the same smile on, but somehow, instead of the playfulness he was hoping to see, it was angry.
"What? Don't you think I'm pretty like this?" She asked, stumbling toward him, as Alex scrambled back. Looking around, realized that most of the people there were now sporting life-ending injuries, and slowly making their way toward him.
"You failed to protect us."
"We trusted you, but you let us down."
"We suffered, so you could survive."
"We died, so you could live."
"What do you have to show for that?"
"Nothing, nothing not all."
"We made a mistake, one that we're to remedy."
Wit each sentence, the group decomposed, slowly becoming more and more biter-like, causing Alex to back up further, until he felt his back come up against a wall.
"I'm sorry! I did the best I could!" Alex shouted at them, trying to keep himself together, as they slowly formed a semi-circle around him. They stood there, for a moment, before Clementine moved away from the rest of the group, shambling toward him.
"Why couldn't you protect me, Alex? I thought you promised to protect me. Why?" Alex tried to think of an answer, but before he could, she charged forward, sinking her teeth into his leg, causing the rest of the group to swarm him. He screamed as he felt his limbs get ribbed off, and his entrails pulled out.
"No!" Alex shouted, as he awoke, glancing around to make sure that he was actually in the boat shed, instead of getting torn apart by his deceased friends. After making sure that he wasn't still dreaming, he leaned back against the shed wall, and tried to get his breathing back under control. I know that it was just a dream, but what if it was trying to tell me something? Alex had never believed that sort of stuff, but then again, he never had to deal with a dream that felt so real. Eventually, he managed to get his emotions, and breathing under control, and decided that he better go out and see if Lee and Clementine had made it back yet. Slowly pulling himself up, using the wall as a crutch, he wondered why he was so sore, and feeling so much pain, when he suddenly remembered the fight from yesterday. Has it only been a day? Damn, no wonder I hurt so bad.
Stepping outside, Alex had to cover his eyes for a moment as they adjusted, before looking around and to see that there was nothing; no people, no animals, not even a single walker, making Alex just feel even more alone. Hopefully, they're just running late, he thought, as he slowly sat down in front of the shed. Guess I will wait for them.
While Alex waited, he decided to take stock of his injuries and quickly realized that Kenny had done a large number on him: his left eye was nearly swollen shut, making it very difficult to for anything coming from his left side, forcing him to move his head in an attempt to see anything coming, though it made the pain flare up; his bottom lip was split open as well, and when Alex gently probed his face, nearly every touch caused him to cringe, causing him to guess that it was mostly bruised and probably not very pretty looking. At least I don't have a mirror, Alex chuckled to himself, stopping almost immediately after he felt the pain.
As the hours passed, and the sun went from the morning to high noon, Alex began to get worried, and it finally dawned on him, that there was no way that Lee could be alive anymore. By the time I had gotten back to the house, it was pushing the afternoon, and he was already bit... Alex felt a great sadness come over him, as he realized that he lost another one of his friends. He sat there for a moment, wishing he could have said something to let the man know that he had forgiven him for what happened at the train, for his uncle, for everything. Sorry Lee... wait, if Lee is gone, what about Clementine? If he's dead, then that means...Clementine must still be trapped by that guy from the radio!
Alex jumped up and started running toward where he thought the Marsh House, not really caring if he ran into biters. I failed to protect Duck, and I couldn't keep my promise to Ben; I'm not going to fuck this up again. Clementine, I'm coming for you!
The hours flew by as Alex attempted to hurry through the city, slowing down only to find a way up to the rooftops so he could avoid the walkers below. By the time he got close to the Marsh House, it was late afternoon, and the teen was exhausted and in serious pain, but he wasn't going to let that stop him, even if it did slow him down a bit.
As he looked down at the hotel from the rooftop across, he noticed that a very familiar vehicle parked in front. Where have I seen that station wagon before? Alex tried to remember, but couldn't place it, though it left a certain feeling that it had something with what happened to the girl. The other thing he noticed, was a massive herd...standing right in front of the building, making it impossible for the teen to cross. He stood there for a moment, glancing around to see if he could see anything that he could use to distract them, and couldn't see anything. Deciding if need be, he would just try to run it and make it across, he went in search of a ladder.
Eventually finding one farther down the building, that lead down into an alley, and where there was a lot less walkers, Alex slowly made his way to the bottom, after to pause after a few rungs to try and let the pain fade away a little. Finally reaching the bottom and after taking a few moments to mentally prepare himself, he was about to go run the gap, when he noticed a nearby sewer manhole cover being lifted up. Cautiously making his way over there, Alex was pulling out his gun, prepared to take out whatever coming out, only to see...
"Chuck?!
The man quickly shushed the teen, before motioning for Alex to follow him down. After seeing that some of the nearby walkers had noticed him and were making their way toward him, Alex quickly followed the man down, and pulled the cover closed after him.
When Alex finally reached the bottom and trying to ignore the smell, he turned and stared at the man, still wearing his old-worn coat, not quite sure that he was believing what he was seeing.
"Chuck, how are you here? We all thought you had died."
Chuck answered with a smile. "I almost did," he explained, as he started down the sewer, with Alex following close behind. "l managed to get into the sewer before that horde got me, and once I was down here, I went looking for a way out. Along the way, I stumbled across a group that was hiding in the basement of some hospital, and stayed with them for a few days, before deciding to get back to the group. In a weird turn of events, I managed to come out near where I just picked you up, and saw Lee and Clementine, covered in blood and guts, leaving the hotel over there and heading northward. I was going to follow em', but there were too many of walkers."
"Wait, they managed to walk through a horde without being attacked?"
"Yeah. Had no problems whatsoever, for at least the short time I saw. I had to duck back down before I could see much though."
Alex was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what that meant, before deciding to file it away for something to think about later.
"So, how did you know where to find me?"
"I didn't. When I couldn't follow 'em, I decided to wait until when I could see, then, somehow managed to stumble across you."
Alex stopped for a moment, trying to process what the man said. "You just stumbled across me?"
Chuck chuckled for a moment. "Yeah. When I saw that Clementine and Lee were alone, I thought that rest of ya had bit the bullet, but I'm glad to see I was wrong."
"Yeah, me too," Alex muttered quietly to himself, trying to push the thought of how true Chuck's statement almost was. Out of the original Motel group, it's only Clem and me left; I just hope that is still true.
"So," Alex asked, more for himself than his companion, "where are we going?"
The hobo was silent for a moment, before responding. "Northward, I hope. These sewers are a maze; we'll be lucky if we manage to even go near the right direction."
They continued in companionable silence, though each were trapped in their own thoughts. Alex, while glad that Chuck hadn't said anything about his face, was mainly focused on trying to figure out how to find Clem. If Lee managed to get her out of the hotel and I'm guessing he knew he wasn't going to last long, I'm hoping that he would try and follow the plan, and get Clementine out of the city. Otherwise, it'll be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
After a short time of trudging through sewage and Alex perfecting the art of breathing though his mouth, (which made the smell not as bad as breathing through his nose, but he swore that he could taste it), they managed to find a tunnel that led outside, near the river.
"Well, what do you know? Guess we chose the right path after all." Chuck exclaimed, as he stepped out, stretching his arms toward the sun, which was now close to mid-afternoon. Alex looked around, and noticed that while the tunnel had led them out of the city, they now had to face something almost as bad: suburbs. As far as Alex could see, was rows of cookie-cutter houses, each meaning that it was going to be that much more difficult to find the girl.
"We need to keep moving," Alex stated, as he started northward into the suburbs, with Charles following silently behind.
With each house they passed, Alex felt a mix of nostalgia and fear as they passed each house grow: nostalgia for a time before the apocalypse, where he didn't have to worry about where his next meal would come from or having to eliminate the things that used to be his friends; fear, that they wouldn't find Clementine and all that was keeping him going was false hope. Please, let us find her...
If Chuck picked up on any of these feelings, he didn't say anything, which Alex was thankful for. Eventually, they made it out of that hell, and ended up in country side, luckily with the river still in sight; unfortunately, the day was done and the sun was already setting. Alex stared out into the distance, trying to see anything, any sign that Clem was out there, but all he saw was the grass waving in the wind, and the odd tree here and there.
Alex started moving toward the grass, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Chuck looking at him, with a forlorn expression.
"There's no need to go rushing off; you won't be able to find her in dark. We'll find her in the mornin'."
Alex thought about trying to argue with the man, but deep down, knew that he was right. Chances of finding a little girl, who has little to no survival skills in the daytime, in a large area, are slim as is, but chances of finding her in the night, when we would be barely able to see anything past our own hands, is slim to none.
They made their way back to the nearest house that looked as if it wouldn't fall over after the next large gust of wind, and once inside, Alex could tell that some loving family had lived there. The walls were covered by pictures of a father, mother, daughter, son, and a dog, with each photo showing them having a good time doing something. I wonder if they all made it out alive...or if they ended up just like nearly everyone else, and are now wandering around, looking for fresh meat.
After scouting out the house and making sure there were no biters inside, they made camp, with Alex volunteering to take the first watch, mainly because he wasn't sure that he could sleep. Chuck accepted, though he did mention that there was bathroom where Alex could clean himself up as the man headed toward a nearby bedroom.
After cleaning himself up as best he could, and managing to find a bottle of Tylenol hidden under the sink, Alex made his way outside, and stared up at the sky, waiting for the pills to kick in. It's amazing, now that all the cities have gone dark and there isn't any artificial light, how many stars you can actually see; with trying to keep myself alive, I really haven't had time to enjoy the little things.
Pulling himself out of his thoughts, Alex started walking around the house, on the lookout for anything suspicious, he noticed a light flickering off in the distance. Alex strained his eyes, attempting to see where it was coming from, but all he could tell was that it was somewhere farther down the road.
Deciding that it was worth looking into, Alex quickly hurried toward it, feeling hope well up in his chest, but tried to force it away, just in case he was running on a wild goose chase. As he drew closer to the light source, which kept flashing in and out of existence, Alex realized that it was coming from the window of a...tree house.
"Clementine?!" Alex called out hopefully, and louder than he meant to, before he came back to his senses, and quieted down. The light, which had been shining bright at the moment, quickly shut off, and he could hear someone moving around up there. Alex slowly walked underneath the building, and decided to take a gamble on who was in there. I mean, it's not like I have much to lose anyway.
"Hey Clem, would you mind not dropping a hammer on me, like you thought about doing when you first met Lee?" Alex stood there for a few moments, waiting for an answer, but when he heard nothing, Alex feared that was just shouting up at the wrong tree, and that someone else was hiding out there. Alex slowly turned, and started moving away, when he heard the tree house's trapdoor open, and a small voice call out.
"...Alex?"
Alex laughed, as he felt the tears well up in his eyes. I found her...I actually found her. She's alive...He quickly wiped away, knowing that if he cried, it was going to hurt.
"Yeah Clem, it's me. Can I come up?" He didn't hear her say anything, but since the trapdoor didn't slam shut and her shifting away from it, Alex took that as a yes, and climbed up.
As soon as his head broke through, he glanced around, noticing a familiar bag thrown haphazardly against a wall, with a flashlight sticking out of it, before his eyes were drawn to the little girl sitting in the corner, looking as if her legs that she had pulled up to her chest, were the only things that were keeping her from breaking.
Alex pulled himself up, grabbed the bag, stuffed the flashlight back in, before moving over to Clementine and sitting down next to her; almost immediately, she threw her arms around him, and the teen could feel the girl break down, sobbing into his shirt. Alex froze for a second, thrown off guard by her reaction, before returning the embracing, and allowing the girl to let out all the emotions that she was feeling, which Alex was sure, was plenty.
Alex didn't know how long they sat there: it could have minutes, hours, it didn't matter to him; all that mattered was the little girl, who was just starting regain control over herself. Clem slowly raised her head, still sniffling. He gave her a small smile, which she did not return, making Alex worry slightly.
"Are you alright, Clem?" She shook her head, before lowering her head back down to his chest, staring at the floor.
"He's gone..." she murmured, causing Alex to just hug her closer. No doubt, she's still suffering from the death of Lee. I'm not even sure that she expected anyone else to find her.
"Yes, he is, but he's not truly gone," Alex stated, causing the girl to glance up at him, before returning her gaze to the floor. "Everything he taught you; everything that you learned from him, will just be his way of staying with you, making sure that you will survive."
Instead of answering, Clementine reached past him, and pulled something from the bag. Alex got a glimpse of it as she pulled it close to her chest, and saw that it was a torn photo of Lee. He sighed, knowing that it was going to take a while for the girl to get over the death of her protector. I just hope that she will be able to come to terms with it...someday.
Alex opened his mouth, about to tell the girl that they should meet up with Chuck, only to realize that she had fallen asleep on him, still clutching the photo with all her might. He smiled down at her, and settled back, hoping that the man wouldn't worry when he woke up in the morning.
The teen must have been more tired than he originally thought because he meant to stay up the entire night, to watch over Clem; instead, he found himself blinking his eyes open to the sun shining on his face. Alex was about to stretch to start the day, when he felt something shift on his lap. Glancing down, he saw that Clementine was still there, using it as a pillow, though she had released her death grip on the photo, letting it fall to the floor.
Alex slowly reached down and picked it up, managing not to disturb the girl. He studied the photo, and guessed that it was taken before the world fell to shit, before Lee met Clem, and before he met Alex. To the teen, it was part of a past life, a look into a world that not longer existed, but it was a way for Clementine to remember her mentor and protector, and be able to carry on hopefully.
Setting the photo down beside the girl, Alex gently stroked her hair, causing her to mumble and shift on his lap, but remain asleep. He smiled, happy that she was still alive, happy that he had managed to find her, and happy that he hadn't broken his promise...again.
"Lee, wherever you are, I want you to know, that I will watch over her, and try to keep her safe. I won't promise it, just because in this world, I'm not sure how well I can manage that, but I want you to know, that I will do my best."
Alex hadn't even realized he had spoken aloud, but he didn't really care; he just settled back, resting against the wall, planning on getting up in twenty or so minutes, just to let the girl rest a little while longer. What he didn't know, was that Clementine had been awake, and heard everything. While she didn't say anything, it got her thinking, leaving her to her thoughts.
We can make this work...we've got to.
AN: Wow, hard to believe that over a year ago, I decided to start writing fanfiction and wrote my first chapter, leading to a character that I've really enjoyed creating and expanding. At this moment, I'm going to end with We Will Survive, with this chapter, though, depending on how I feel about the next season when I start writing it, I may add another chapter to help the next plot along.
Anyway, this chapter is dedicated to everyone who left reviews, faved, followed, PM'ed. Also, everyone who helped make this story possible, through either helping me with mistakes, or giving me ideas about how to continue the story. Thanks to all of you, this story has become one of the my favorite things to do. So...thanks again and look out, for in the near future, We Will Survive Season 2, will be published!