AN: Hey y'all! I'm happy you guys seem to be so into this story right now, and thank you so much for helping us surpass 100 reviews! I'm really grateful for all of the support, and hopefully eventually we'll be able to get that number of to 200 someday… but I'm kind of jumping the gun right now lol.
I'm going to try and update once or twice a week – that's the goal for right now. Assignments and exams are creeping along, so that stuff's gonna take priority but I'll try to crank some of these out along the way.
Anyways, this chapter's going to switch POVs around a little bit, so I'll put them in bold as per usual so you don't get confused. We're starting to build up the community some more, so expect a lot on that stuff in the coming chapters.
Tommy's POV
Impatiently tapping my foot as I lean against the door, I audibly groan in annoyance as I try looking down the hallway again – nothing there except toolboxes and scraps of newspapers with random splotches of paint covering the various articles and pictures. Most of this stuff has been from the construction crew setting up barricades for the windows on the main floor here, but it turns out that paint actually does still exist in some places around the city. Emily had a field day trying her hand at that stuff.
She's a hell of a lot more artistically talented than I am, that's for sure. I can draw stick figures… and that's about the extent of it. I could never have made the walls down here look as colourful as she managed to.
But I'm not annoyed by the mess that they've left behind. No, I'm getting agitated by a far more monstrous issue – punctuality. Bo was supposed to be here over an hour and a half ago, but he still hasn't come down from James' office yet.
I'm starting to wonder if James might have swallowed him whole and spit out his bones or something – that's a joke, you're supposed to laugh…
Oh fuck it! I'm heading in there with or without him!
Grabbing a toolbox (which I'm hoping will have exactly what I need inside), I open the door and keep a wedge stuck near the bottom so that I can see from the outside. With a little luck and a lot of skill, maybe I won't even need to do that sort of thing any longer. Maybe I can get the power working in here after all.
Hell, I was a construction worker back in the day – how hard can getting the power back on really be?
Squinting as my eyes slowly adjust to the darker environment, I nearly bump straight into a furnace type of thing sitting inside, but thankfully it's shut off. Even though it's enclosed, I still don't like the idea of messing around with heat or fire like that. Save that kind of work for somebody else.
You know, because working with electricity is so much safer than that.
"If I were a backup generator," I muse, literally having to feel my way around in some places, "where would I be?"
Hmm, let's see… Another furnace, some loose wires, a busted carburetor… ah, here we go! BACKUP GENERATOR – looks like the right fit to me.
Blowing the dust off of the instructions that are screwed into the side of the machine, I bend down and try to make sense of how this thing is supposed to work. Looks as though it's like a lawn mower in a sense – crank the cable back and watch it sing. Pressing the start button before anything else, I grab onto the cable (which really looks more like a string than anything else) and yank it backwards; getting discouraged when nothing seems to be happening. When I try it out a few more times, I know that something's definitely wrong here.
Sniffing, I frown slightly as I pick up the scent of… rotten eggs? Aww, fucking hell! That's disgusting – what is it? It definitely wasn't there when I walked into this place.
Following my nose like a hound dog, I walk around to the back of the generator and pull out a screwdriver from my toolbox. You can always count on Handyman Tommy to come and fix your problems – just don't expect me to do any plumbing or anything like that. I think that's where I start to draw the line.
I unscrew a few bolts from the back panel here and swing the thing open, and the smell is fully revealed. Not gonna lie, it's really gross – like a combination of skunk, rotten eggs and dead animals.
"Propane…" I conclude, realizing that the smell is just the residue and that I'll need to get more in order for this baby to run properly. "You'd have an easier time finding rocket fuel at a place like this…"
Sighing, I place the tool back in its case as I pack up to leave the room. Well, at least that seems to be the only thing we're missing, although I'm not entirely sure how I'm gonna end up finding propane out here. I know that they've often got them around gas stations, but who knows if people have already taken that kind of thing already. I don't know of any vehicles that run off propane, and it's not as if people are using barbecues anymore, so perhaps there's still a chance.
I think I'll go ask Bo about it, and then I'll probably end up giving him a tongue-lashing about keeping me waiting for so long.
Clem's POV
"Ellie? Come on kiddo, you've gotta get up!" I encourage, nudging her roughly on the side as her irises just barely become visible. Poor kid – she's barely gotten a wink of sleep in tonight at all. "We've gotta get moving, okay? Everyone's packing up their stuff."
"Mmf… huh? What?" she mumbles deliriously; rubbing her tired eyes as she blinks away the sleep. Not wanting to lose track of our target (seeing's how the whole reason of coming here was to look for other survivors), I scoop the child up in my arms as she gasps in surprise.
"Sorry…" I apologize with a slight chuckle, bringing her over to one of the vehicles as I gently place her in the back seat. "But I need you to stay awake for a little while longer. Can you do that for me?"
As I strap the seatbelt from the top of her right shoulder across and down to her left hip, I rub her head affectionately as I step back outside. Kazuki and Katie are heading with us this time around, and I lightly honk the horn once to get Lilly's attention. I know that it's kind of unnecessary, but Ellie's not the only one who's feeling exhausted right now.
I just want to find these people, talk it over and get a good night's rest. Sadly, I don't think sleep will be coming easily to me tonight.
It never does anymore.
"You know where we're going, right?" Katie inquires as Lilly appears at the top of the hill. "So we're chasing helicopters now, is that it? You're sure that it wasn't like a fucking seagull or something?"
"I don't think seagulls have propellers and metal plating on top of them – besides, the both of us saw it touch down," Lilly mutters as she opens up the front seat. "Now sit down and buckle up. Kelly, you follow in behind me and stay right on our tail, alright? I'm not entirely sure what we're gonna find once we get in there!"
Revving the engine as Jane steps in as well, Lilly turns the wheel all the way to the left as we head down the hill and through a dusty, old farmer's field to get to the city. No highway or street driving for us now – we're off-roading!
It's too bad that off-roading leads to probably the most uncomfortable and bumpy car rides you will ever experience. Up and down in the seats we bounce around; almost getting some air several times if not for the seatbelts holding us down.
"Hope you guys weren't expecting five star service or anything," Lilly comments as we run over a particularly nasty divot in the ground. "Trust me – we'll get there in one piece."
We only know how to actually get to the city of Tulsa, so without an inner-city map to guide us, we're relying totally on Lilly to get us over to this place. I've got a general idea of where the chopper may have landed, but that's not exactly that helpful to any of us.
"We need to be careful," Jane advises, turning to face the rest of us as she prepares some weaponry for herself. Feeling that we should do the same, the rest of us (minus Ellie, who's struggling just to stay awake) take out various pieces as we make sure our clips are as full as we can make them and that we haven't left anything on the floor of the vehicle. "Did Bo say anything about this place being a dead zone or not, Clem?"
"Only one way to find out," I cheekily reply, ready to face whatever threat there might be. I don't want anybody to die on my watch, especially if it's due to carelessness. "When we do end up finding these people, just… let me do the talking, alright?" I state, watching as Lilly eyes me from the front seat. I know that I had confided in her before about confidence issues, but I need to keep up appearances, don't I? "We just want to talk to these people – no shooting unless they try to shoot first."
As we finally manage to enter the city with hopes relatively high for a change, Lilly stops at the side of the road for a moment as Kelly comes ploughing through the field behind us. Their car's covered in dirt, mud and even some old, rotten vegetables, but we're all present and accounted for.
"The place didn't look too deep inside the downtown core. Remember the plan," Lilly mentions into the walkie-talkie; switching it off as she places the device into one of the cup holders. "If I don't like the look of these people, I'm turning this car around and heading back home. You guys can walk back!"
"I'd probably have to come back and shoot you for ditching us, so I wouldn't recommend it…" Katie mutters in a joking manner – or at least I think she's kidding around. It's difficult to tell with her honestly.
As the ex-military lady drives onwards, I slowly roll down my window and marvel at how quiet it is out here. Usually there's a whole manner of noises going on that make you jump in surprise and almost put a bullet in anything that approaches you, but here? You could probably hear a pin drop were it not for the engine running in the car.
Reminds me of Savannah when we first got there, I think to myself, almost saying it aloud but realizing that I'd be the only one who would have a clue what I was referring to – even Lilly wouldn't likely know.
"Look at this place… it's totally empty," Kazuki comments; her one good eye surveying the sidewalks for any sign of life. "Why would anyone choose to live here? I've been in the car for ten minutes and I'm already getting the creeps!"
"Eerily quiet is always better than flooded with walkers," Jane reminds us, "but yeah… ditto. This place seems a little too peaceful. You know what that means?"
"That… we're gonna be just peachy and have no problems at all?" Kazuki suggests, causing me to chuckle slightly at her optimism.
"Typically it means we're heading into some kind of trap… Keep your guard up."
Snorting, Katie rolls her eyes as she turns to look out the back window; waving to Kelly to let her know that she's alright. "What's with all of this ominous shit coming out of your mouth? If they're waiting for us, then we handle it, same as always," she insists, turning back around as we come a few blocks away from where we need to be. "That's one fine piece of machinery up there… could save us a lot of hassle…"
Not liking what she's suggesting, I frown with impunity as Lilly comes to a halt along the side of the road; no strings attached this time. We've made it into the city unharmed, untroubled and unannounced so far, which really is a big accomplishment given our past. I can't tell you how many times we've gotten into shitty situations with other survivors over the last couple of years – some have been bandits, others have just flat-out turned us away at the door and others have been perfectly normal, but were seen as unfit to join our group. Racheal made it pretty clear with the last batch of people that we encountered that she didn't want newbies coming into the fold, meaning nobody that looked as though they were gonna die the next day with the stupid shit they were pulling off. Not rationing their food properly and being reckless with a weapon were just a couple of examples.
Somebody else actually tried to threaten me with a water gun that he insisted was a fully-loaded magnum revolver – Katie pretty much put the guy down right then and there.
"We need some people out here guarding the vehicles – two at the least," I say as we all step outside once again. I have to keep my voice down in case some unfriendly foes decide to pop out of nowhere. "Any volunteers?"
"I can stay out here and watch Ellie while the rest of you go inside," Alden suggests, but I really don't like that idea.
"I'd rather have Ellie in with me, if that's cool with you," I disagree, but nod as Racheal and Emily step up to help Alden guard our means of transportation. "Alright, let's try and get in there somehow. It doesn't look like the place is guarded at all right now…"
I can't help but grow worried when I see that Katie is staring intently at the helicopter with a scheming expression on her face.
Tommy's POV
Okay… this is weird. Didn't Bo tell me that he was gonna be up here talking some sense into James? Well, the office is empty and the two of them are nowhere to be seen.
"Hello?" I call out, not hearing any answer as I look around the office. Torn on whether to leave the room or hang around a bit for them to come back, I go with my inner childish sense of adventure and decide to root around a little bit.
So this is James' infamous medical room, huh? I was expecting it to be a little more roomy and impressive, but I suppose the guy has to make do with what he's got. I've never really had a reason to come around here before, and I feel like a mischievous little boy with a room full of brand new toys to play with.
With a curious mind, I sit down in his office chair and start looking at the various notepads, equipment and medical supplies. James may not agree, but to me it looks as though he's got plenty of medicine to spare. I guess you can never have too much lying around, but this is still one serious stash of meds.
My eyes widen in surprise as I pick up a birth control pill bottle – an empty one. I'm pretty sure nobody's got a bun in the oven around here, but maybe… maybe somebody's trying to hide it from the rest of the group. I wasn't even aware that people were actually in a relationship around here, and well… Jane and Lilly are pretty much already cut off of that list for obvious reasons.
I don't want to press it though – for all I know this could've been for Debbie before she died.
Putting the bottle back where I found it, my eyes catch onto a pretty thick binder sticking out on top of a counter nearby. Letting my curiosity get the better of me, I pick it up and examine it; confused as to why James would keep something like this in here. It's got a whole bunch of medical records, but none of the people have any names. There are just numbers instead with a brief description on symptoms, reactions and… dosage? What is this? And why has James been giving these people all the exact same medicine?
"Patient Number 102…" I read aloud, using my finger to follow along, "subject has experienced tremendous initial pain… heavier dosage needed to continue testing on the brain… subject… dead?!" I exclaim on the last part, going over it a second time to make sure that I just read that right.
Flipping through more of the pages, I discover that there are similar descriptions for dozens of other people – all of them marked as deceased. Is this… is this James' doing?! Is it both of them?!
Or am I just reading too much into this?
"…Tommy?" Bo remarks as I drop the binder and do nothing as the pages scatter all over the floor.
Clem's POV
Knocking on the door three times with my pistol, I await a response from the other side. I know there's somebody around here – nobody just lands a helicopter and then abandons it to go do something else. That'd be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard of in my entire life!
However, when nobody comes out to greet the guests, I knock on the giant steel door once again. According to Racheal, this place must've been some kind of manufacturing facility back in the day – steel-making, most likely. That actually might make this place a welcome sight for a change, instead of having us try and scavenge out fast food restaurants and banks all the time. A wad of cash doesn't exactly work that well when you're trying to fight off hordes of the undead.
Steel, though? That could be really useful. I know for a fact that the construction crew could use some of this stuff for steel plating around the space centre. If they had some way of fastening it to the windows, then we could be a whole lot safer than just having wooden boards encasing us from the outside world.
Still though, we can't exactly do that sort of thing when nobody's coming out to check on us, so as Jane and Lilly come over beside me, we push the door inwards until it gets stuck on a lock and chain on the other side.
"I should still be small enough to fit through," I suggest, already having made up my mind as I try to squeeze inside. "Ugh…I'll try to undo the lock on this side. Just hang tight everybody!"
"Can't exactly go anywhere out here anyways," Kazuki jokes as I start to get to work.
And oh boy is this place huge! There are conveyor belts and blast furnaces and compression units and all sorts of other technical-looking stuff that I'm not sure what their use would've been, and voila! Rows of leftover pieces of steel just sitting there in the corner collecting dust – that could be just what we need to bring back!
I'm assuming though that that stuff isn't exactly as light as a feather, so that could potentially be a problem… not to mention that it isn't actually ours to take…
Focusing on getting the rest of our group inside, I frown in concentration as my fingers delicately trace over the small chain wrapped around the door handles. Whoever lived here definitely didn't want people barging in unannounced, that's for sure.
"Try the ends first," Alden mentions as he points his finger to the left. "Just close the door back up and then try unwrapping the chain near the sides of the door handle. You might be able just to swing it off that way."
"Alright," I agree with a little bit of doubt that I'd be strong enough to do this sort of thing on my own. The chain isn't very thick thankfully – about the size of a bicycle chain – but it's still made of steel, and it takes quite a lot of effort on my part as Jane and Lilly close the door shut again.
Cracking my knuckles slightly, I grasp onto the chain as hard as I can and pull backwards; not noticing that my foot has gotten caught in some kind of rope on the floor. As I place my other foot on the door to get some leverage, I yank the chain back with all my might as I fall to my butt on the floor and give my head a quick shake.
I'm about to bang on the door and tell them that the task is complete, but I'm rudely interrupted by that rope tightening around my ankle and yanking my entire body upside down. A huge box drops down as a sort of weight to drag me up into the air as I dangle precariously.
"AHHH!" I bellow as my gun falls to the floor, leaving me utterly defenseless as a trio of people come out of their hiding spots to presumably attack me. It wouldn't take much for me to get killed from up here – I feel like a damn piñata right now.
Chuckling hysterically, a young woman smirks at me as she takes a swig of alcohol and sets it down clumsily on the ground; ogling their prize as if I'm some kind of trophy. "Haha! Looks like we got one!" she exclaims while slurring her words slightly; poking me in the head as I swing back and forth. I think I'm gonna be sick up here. "That'll… that'll teach people to barge in like that, huh? They think they can just… pop in without an invitation! It's not even my birthday!"
"Luna, we're not trying to catch people… Fuck, now look what you've done, kid!" one of the guys say to me, urging me to hold onto the rope as he tries to set me loose. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to set this stupid thing up? Now I've gotta reset the trap and hang that pile of shit up all over again…" he mutters, though I am really not amused. The man unties a knot that's fastened around a hook thingy at the side of the door as I slowly fall to the ground. "Get up, already… I don't think you're gonna find the floor to be very comfortable."
As I go to stand at my feet, the door suddenly bursts open as Jane, Lilly, Elliot, Kazuki, Ellie and everyone else rush inside with their weapons raised straight at the three people, and unfortunately I can't get them to stand down this time. Luna giggles incessantly as she offers her alcoholic beverage to Alden, and I almost feel like laughing at the ridiculous look he's giving her.
What in the world is with these people?
"You guys sure are a paranoid bunch, aren't you?" the other boy remarks, though looking pretty pale-faced as Lilly turns his gun towards him. Emily and Racheal have just come inside too after hearing what was going on. "…do you mind aiming that somewhere else? Preferably not in my facial area? That'd be great, thanks…" he sarcastically mutters as Lilly reluctantly lowers the gun to his chest. It's not much better, but it's still something.
"What the hell was that all about?! I could've died from this stupid thing!" I demand as I brush the dust off of my knees and make my way to the front of the group.
"It's for the safety of – "
"Safety?!" I question with indignity. "Let me get this straight… because you three are camped out here all alone, you think it's a good idea to have a deathtrap just sitting there at your door?! This woman's drunk, for crying out loud!" I mention; Luna's eyes looking bloodshot and swimming with alcohol. "What if she stumbled over here and one of the ropes snapped? Somebody could crack their head open on this thing, and you think it's a safe thing to have?"
"It's supposed to keep out the dead, not the living!" one of the boys, who I've found out the name is Jake from Luna's incessant mutterings, informs me as he gestures to the rope. "If one of the biters somehow managed to get in here, then this thing's supposed to catch them like flies! Obviously it still needs some work if you could break in like that…"
Inspecting the rope for herself, Emily nods as she glances up at the intricate-looking mechanism that's supposedly designed to keep other people out. That's why nobody could break inside after I was hanging up there – it seems that the rope manages to shut the doors until somebody releases the person.
Alright, I suppose it's a little impressive, but I'm still slightly peeved.
"Why are you all still standing here? You got inside, great job. Now get out already!" Jake orders, pointing to the door as his friend rolls his eyes.
"We're outgunned here, Jake… better to just see what they want," the guy mutters, eyeing each and every one of us wearily as he mops the sweat off his brow with his shirt sleeve. "I'm Scott, by the way. Scott Adams."
"Clementine," I reply quietly, relaxing a little bit when I see that they don't plan on trying to kill us. It'd probably just mean that we'd have three more bodies to clean up afterwards regardless of what they tried to do. "This is Lilly, Jane, Ellie, Racheal, Emily, Elliot, Kazuki, Kelly and… wait a minute, where's…?"
Dreading that soft engine noise coming from up above, I clench my fists tightly as I realize what Katie's trying to do. Stealing a helicopter from a bunch of new people is not the way to make friends!
As Luna clues in to what's happening, she tosses her bottle on the ground as it smashes into a million tiny pieces. "NO! You ain't… you ain't taking my baby away from me!" she gargles, turning on her heel and sprinting outside. "GET TO THE CHOPPAH! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU IF YOU TAKE HER AWAY!"
"Luna, get back here!" Jake bellows after her; nearly bowling me over as he shoves me to the side. While Lilly, Jane and Ellie stay behind to check the place out (at my request), the rest of us all pile outside like a herd of elephants as I see Luna clambering up a ladder that none of us had noticed before. It's one of those fire escape ladders that can be pulled down by a lever on the side of the building. "This was your plan all along, wasn't it?! Your group came to steal our only working vehicle and leave us to rot!"
"It's not like that, I swear! Katie isn't supposed to be in the cockpit!" I urge, heading up the ladder next in order to try and prevent this from turning into another brawl. What the hell is she thinking going in there?! Damn it all, Katie! I specifically told her not to do this!
As I finally make my way to the top of the roof, I nervously watch as Luna desperately tries to break into her own helicopter; banging on the glass door as Katie gives her two middle fingers and tightens the helmet on top of her head.
"Come out quietly and we won't kill you!" Jake warns, getting backed up by Scott as Luna finally stops hitting the side of her… umm, baby. It's a weird sentiment, I know. "Put your hands behind your head and step away from the controls! I'm not asking you again!"
"Katie, just do it!" Kelly groans, having to yell over the roar of the winged beast. "We can't take it, alright? Just let it go – stealing a helicopter isn't gonna give you your wings back!"
"Huh?" Kazuki questions as she looks up to Kelly inquisitively. "Wings? As in, like, a bird? Is Katie some kind of mutant super-bird or something?"
But Kelly ignores her question completely as we all watch the scene unfold. Katie, seeing that she really doesn't have a choice this time around, takes one hard look at the three strangers, puts down the helmet, switches the ignition off and calmly steps out onto the roof as if she did absolutely nothing wrong. You could almost say that she looks like this was hers to begin with.
Smirking towards me, Katie goes to pull out her pistol from her pocket… but thankfully stops when a bunch of us give her the stink eye. Luna rushes to try and punch in the head, but the woman just routinely steps to the side and trips her up; sending Luna to go face-first into the side of the helicopter. Graceful as a ballerina, I'd say.
"What part of don't steal the helicopter was confusing to you?!" I snap with vigor, recalling our conversation just a short while ago.
"Pretty sure I was just saving all of us the hassle of doing it later," she remarks. "This is what we need, Clementine. With a chopper like this, we could cover the skies and do all of this scouting bullshit in less than half the time! No more sending the whole group out to do a job that two or three could probably do!"
"It's not yours to take!"
Chuckling, Katie rubs her face tiredly as the sun slowly starts to rise in the east. "We all lie, cheat and steal to protect ourselves out here, don't we? If we tried to be nice and cater to every single person out here, then we'd all be dead within a week! Better these jack asses than one of us…"
As Jake and Scott order us all to get the hell out of their camp once and for all, having pretty much ruined any chance that we may have had to negotiate, I pull Katie over to the side once we get to the ground below.
"…we're tying you up," I tell her forcefully as Elliot and Emily pull a thick rope from the back of one of the vehicles and tie her hand behind her back. "Until we get back to the space centre and figure out what to do with you, you're under our watch now."
"Ha! Spoken like a true dictator, my friend! Nice to see that you're finally showing your true colours!" she tries to get a reaction out of me, and nearly succeeds as I motion for her to get back into one of the cars with my pistol out for reinforcement.
As she's plopped down into the seat, I narrow my eyes at her as I gesture to the rest of our crew.
"I'm doing this for the good of the group," I tell her, knowing fully well that she doesn't believe me. "Until I know that you can be trusted, you're not a part of it. You're an outsider."
"…how about I give you a piece of advice there, Clementine? Just before you go…" she remarks quietly, leaning her head against the headrest behind her. "Sooner or later, you're gonna have to grow up and realize that what I'm doing right here is saving lives. It's for the betterment of the entire group. That helicopter is a golden ticket, and you're just throwing it away," she chastises. Her voice right now is like placing an open palm on a burning stove – it's a sharp, searing pain and it hurts like hell. "The rules have changed, kid. We take what we need to survive. As long as you keep up that goodie-two-shoes attitude of yours, then we're gonna get trampled on and left to the side of the road."
Asking Racheal to watch over her for me, I turn back to Katie with a sigh and a shake of my head. "No," I disagree while placing my hands in my pocket, "there are always worse things than just stealing a helicopter. Trust me – you've got no idea…"
Saying nothing more in case either Racheal or Katie start asking questions, I turn back towards the building and look up to the roof. I can't really see any of them from this angle, but Scott has finally come down the ladder and jogged up beside me. I get the feeling that he's a bit more reasonable than his two companions.
It's guys like Scott that you really have to watch out for – the unpredictable ones.
"Thanks for doing that. For a second there I thought she was gonna take off into the air," he mentions, pointing back towards the tied-up Katie who's striking up a conversation with Racheal. Whatever they choose to say about me can't be any good, but I just need to follow Lilly's advice and tune it out. "Well… now that the awkwardness is out of the way, mind if I ask what you're doing out here?"
Surprised that he's actually willing to talk after that whole fiasco, I straighten up a little bit and walk with him inside; giving Ellie a side-hug as she excitedly rushes towards me.
"Come on, come on! You've gotta see this!" she encourages, grabbing my hand and trying to yank me forward. "Jane said that she and Lilly found something!"
Looks like the diplomacy's going to have to wait a little while after all, as Scott just shrugs and walks into the steel plant with us. I can't help but laugh at Ellie's enthusiasm – it's difficult not to feel all warm inside when Ellie really gets into something. Despite her extreme sleep depravity, her smile is still enough to light up the whole room.
Thinking that she might just be overreacting to some cool-looking machine or something, I casually walk over as Ellie shouts for me to hurry up. "What's all the hubbub, bub?" I ask as I see the two of my closest friends hunched over some kind of workbench of sorts. Scott seems a little anxious when he notices this, but relaxes a little bit when Jane just turns around with some kind of big map in her hands.
"Mind if I show them?" she asks the boy, to which he nods and says that as long as we don't tear the paper up, then it's fine. "Come take a look at this thing, guys! You're not gonna believe this…"
Laying it flat on the table, Jane straightens out the corners and reveals a rather large map of the United States. Not such a big deal, right?
Wrong – dead wrong, actually. This isn't just an ordinary travel map of the country, but the thing's marked down the locations of several camps spread out to the east of here.
"Jefferson City, Charleston, Ranger's Grove, Hilltop…" I read out loud, shaking my head in disbelief. Turns out that we're definitely not alone in the country as some of us were beginning to suspect. "Hunter's Retreat, Alexandria… Wellington…"
The second that I read that name, which is printed in big, bolded letters, I look up towards Jane as she sighs angrily and turns away. "Fucking…" she cuts herself off, refusing to admit that maybe we could've been wrong about the place being a fairy tale after all. "…whatever. Doesn't really matter now, does it?" she says, confusing everyone around us as I tell them to just drop it. Searching for that camp brought us nothing but problems in the beginning.
Looking at it for himself, Elliot whistles in astonishment as he widens his eyes in surprise. "Damn… looks like you guys know a lot more about the country than we do!" he remarks as Scott starts to explain himself.
"We've been collecting data and as much info as we can on what the rest of the US has been going through – Jake started a few months after the dead came back," he tells us, tracing over the faded ink with a fresh pen.
"How is that even possible though?" Lilly asks the question we all have on our minds. "You're all the way over in Oklahoma! There's no communication left, isn't there?"
"If by landlines or anything like that, then you're right – there aren't any," Jake mentions as he walks up behind us, seeming a lot less hostile than he was beforehand. Luna's starting to regain her senses a little bit, but she still seems like an odd duck to me. "No phones, no faxes, not even the internet. Usually we found out from travellers, but Luna occasionally takes the chopper out to search from above. We've never actually been that far east though, so who knows what could be out there?"
Feeling as though now would be a good time to try and make amends between us, I clear my throat and try (with much difficulty) to look him in the eye.
Fortunately, it seems that Kazuki is more than happy to apologize on our behalf. Thank god…
"We're sorry about… you know, trying to take your stuff and everything…" she tells him, making it seem more like a child apologizing for snatching away some kind of toy. "I know all about what that feels like, believe me. I had a pack of Skittles in my backpack the other day, and somebody took them away from me! Poof – gone like a puff of smoke! They were the only ones that I had left…"
Silently questioning if this is for real or not, Jake really doesn't know what to say about that. "Umm… sorry for your loss, then?" he says, having his sentence turn into a question as he gets all confused. "Look… I don't exactly peg you folks as the assholes that I made you out to be, but the reality is that we're just trying to wait this thing out until we have to move again. Things were peaceful until you lot showed up – we barely had any problems at all!"
Unable to hold it in any longer, Emily chuckles as she points back towards the door. "We just broke into your home with almost no resistance whatsoever," she reminds him, patting my shoulder for added effect. "If Clem hadn't tried to open that chain and get the rest of us inside, then she could've snuck inside without any of you knowing what hit you. What's to stop someone else from doing the same thing and shooting the place up? You need all the help you can get, and this place isn't as secure as you might think. We can get you that security, you know."
As soon as I notice that their interests have been slightly piqued, I smile softly to myself. Well done, Emily – you've reeled them in already.
This might just be our easiest recruitment yet.
Racheal's POV
"...and that's why they wouldn't let me fly anymore," Katie finally finishes, having kept droning on and on about her days as a part-time pilot back in her hometown of Jackson, Missouri. Seriously - I don't think that I could get this woman to shut up if I duct-taped her mouth closed.
But that's alright, I think. It's not like I've got anything better to do out here than to listen to her and all of her glory days. Getting stuck out on babysitting duty... what a load of bull.
Truth be told, I'm getting kind of tired of having a fourteen year old running the show around here. Sure, I'll admit that she hasn't exactly done wrong by me in particular or done anything without the express consent of the group, but Katie had a point about her. From what I can tell, Clem's still too much fresh meat to be leading out here. Leading the group up here was a costly mistake, and one that I hope won't ruin our chances over the long haul.
"You thinking about it, too?"
"Huh? What?" I say dumbly, giving my head a shake as I tear myself out of my own head.
Rolling her eyes, Katie turns her body so that she's fully facing me from her spot in the car. It's difficult for her to move around with those ropes tied behind her back. "This - all of this," she remarks, saying it as if I'm supposed to just automatically know what she's talking about. "You seem to know your shit - you know that things around here aren't gonna last with the way we're going. So... what are we gonna do when it finally happens?"
"When what happens? You're not making any sense!"
"When the people finally grow a brain and start questioning what it is we're doing out here! When all of this nonsense about recruiting new members comes back to bite that kid in the ass!" she emphasizes, looking over at the steel plant as I consider what she's telling me. "Kelly and I talked about it once or twice... We were planning on dipping at the first sign of trouble but..."
Mulling it over for a moment, it finally clicks and dawns on me to what she could potentially be suggesting to me.
"If it comes to that," I shrug, not wanting to be in the spotlight and mention this to the others right now, "then... yeah. We'll probably have to do something about Clementine. Jane and Lilly, too - they seem to always be together."
"Glad to see you agree."
Looking over at the woman, I make a conscious decision and make her turn around so that I can untie these bonds that she's restrained in.
"Nobody can make that call," I remark, watching as she rubs her wrists tenderly. "Just... be smarter about it next time. Jacking the chopper in the middle of all of this was a stupid idea."
Chuckling to herself softly, Katie pats me on the shoulder as if she and I have been close for years. "Racheal, my dear," she tells me, "I think this may be the start of a beautiful friendship."