Twelve months in.
A small group of four is standing on a wooden dock. It's the middle of the day, and all of them carry bags over their shoulders filled with supplies. Seagulls caw and waves crash against the boardwalk they stand on. Kenny is the leader of this group, consisting of his son Duck, Ben and Travis. The island in question is Miami Beach near Florida.
"Alright, everyone on the boat." Kenny ordered. His mustache had fully evolved into a beard, though very unkempt and bushy compared to his usual clean facial hair. His face also looked a little harder somehow.
"Dad.. Can I ask you something?" Duck asked, twiddling his thumbs. He was eleven now, but he didn't look much older. His arms and legs were a bit thicker, and his face was dirtier from a couple of walker kills in the past. He had certainly matured. Kenny barely recognized him anymore.
"Sure, sport, what's up?" The father responded, kneeling down to check out the battery life of the boat. Not much.
"Well.. I like it here,"
"We all like it here. It's bullshit we're leaving." Travis muttered, sitting down on one of the back seats. The kid had grown a bit of stubble and was a bit skinnier, nothing else was changed from his appearance.
"Relax, Travis." Ben tried to soothe his friend. He had a full beard now, blonde and thin around his lips.
"And uh.. Why do we have to leave?" The young boy asked.
"Like I told you, son, I don't wanna leave either. There's few walkers and almost no people, but that's the problem. We ain't gonna find anymore food here if we stay, and we ain't gonna find a bigger group to help us make somethin' of our camp." The fisherman answered.
"But we could just go fishing!" Travis yelled as Ben sat down next to him. Duck went into the front sea.
"Unless you wanna go deep sea diving to find the last few fish around this area, I seriously doubt that. Something's wrong with the water life. Look, I know a lot of ya'll ain't happy with leaving, but I promise you we'll find somewhere better." Kenny got a serious glare from Travis. His son looked worried.
"Look, Kenny's right. This place has been picked clean for the most part, maybe we should go somewhere else." Ben said, defusing the situation.
"Kids right. Besides, if you don't like it, you can leave." The two stared at each other for seconds before Travis gave up, rolling his eyes and folding his arms.
"Whatever.."
"Alright, everyone got their stuff?" Kenny asked, getting the boat engine ready for acceleration.
"Yup." Travis answered, looking to the side at the water swaying back and forth.
"Yep." Ben nodded, staring down at his pistol.
"Mhm." Duck murmured, watching the open sea with his dad up front.
"Great. We'll stop at mainland. Hopefully the battery'll last that long. For now, try not to interrupt me unless you need to take a piss or something." No one responded as Kenny began driving down the water, the boat they had found all the way back in Savannah trailing down the ocean away from the island.
"So.. How are you doing?" Ben asked his best friend.
"Honestly, Ben? I feel like crap." Travis replied, staring down at his sleeved up arm.
"I get that. But, you're not having those.. Problems, right?"
"I try not to. I try to convince myself the blood draws the dead, but it's been difficult to deal with. Thanks for being there." Travis responded, placing a hand on the scrawnier teens shoulder.
"You'd do the same for my dumbass any day." Ben said, smiling. A rare sight for the blonde.
"True. Still, I'm surprised you ever forgave me for being such an asshole during my recovery.. And before it." Travis said.
"I'm surprised you ever forgave me!" Ben exclaimed, getting a chuckle from Travis.
"How about you, kiddo? Feeling decent?" Kenny asked his son.
"I just want to sleep." Duck said, letting out a yawn.
"Nightmares?" His father questioned. Duck nodded.
"..Yeah. How did you know?" The eleven year old asked. Kenny looked back at the windshield.
"I've been having them too. About.. Your mother." He closed his eyes for a couple of seconds before shaking his head. Duck looked a bit scared.
"Don't be like her, please." He stated shyly.
"Never, buddy, I swear." Kenny whispered aloud, furrowing his brows in determination. The ride went silent for a bit.
"Kenny, any locations specifically in mind?" Travis questioned the leader.
"Eh, we've been hearing a lot from that place up North. Was thinkin' we make a break for over there." Kenny suggested.
"Wellington? We haven't talked about that place since Eddie first arrived." Ben stated, the name of the place sounding so foreign.
"That guy was a fucking psycho. How are we supposed to believe anything he says?" Travis asked.
"Because, he may have been crazy, but he was also smart. The guy made it all the way here in a day with no one but himself." Kenny replied.
"I wouldn't wanna align with a creep like that either." Ben muttered.
"He was okay. Nice to me." Duck defended.
"Maybe that walker thing was just a coping mechanism?" Ben suggested, referring to Eddie's.. Oddly excessive way of killing zombies.
"Nuh-uh, no one fucks up walkers that bad. Not even bite victims." Travis replied. Kenny and Ben suddenly looked a bit sad from that comment.
"Shit." Kenny mumbled.
"What?" Travis questioned.
"Nothing, nothing. Just got me remembering Lee." The ex fisherman answered.
"You ever think about what happened to them? Lee, Clementine, Carley, Chuck, Molly, Omid, Christa?" Travis listed the names, bringing memories from the first three months back.
"I try not to. It uh, gets to me. I don't even know why." Kenny responded after a moment of thinking about them.
"We never did say goodbye to Lee. Not officially." Ben brought up. Hell, they don't even know if he survived the amputation.
"Maybe that's why." Kenny shrugged.
"Could be." Ben shrugged back, putting his gun away after inspecting the barrel. They had a decent amount of ammo, surprisingly.
"And we never did learn if they saved Clementine from that creep.." Travis mumbled.
"They did." Duck aggressively responded, looking back at Travis with a mean look.
"How can you be so sure?" The black haired teen questioned.
"He got her. Lee wouldn't give up on that girl, trust me." Kenny backed up his son, not wanting to believe such a sweet little girl like Clementine could die.
"I'm just saying, it's possible they did die."
"..Don't."
The rest of the ride was quiet. The engine made up the ambience along with the water and animals around them. They were close enough to the mainland when suddenly their boat stopped dead in its tracks. They were around an hour away from land so instinctively, Kenny bent down to inspect the battery. "What happened? Why did we stop?" Travis asked, looking around for any threats under the boat.
"The battery.. It's dead." Kenny grumbled out, allowing himself to curse under his breath in anger, a habit he had picked up to not attract attention from the dead.
"Shit." Ben muttered, looking up. What he saw in the distance caused him to widen his eyes.
"What are we gonna do?" Duck asked his father. Kenny, Duck and Travis finally noticed the oncoming boat coming their way. It was only slightly longer than their motorboat, but it was a paddle boat. It looked like there were four people on it.
"You think they're friendly?" Travis asked.
"I don't know. Eddie was, but we might not be that lucky twice." Kenny replied quietly as the boat drew closer.
"What's our game plan then?" Ben questioned. Kenny had to make another important choice for his group, and this time Lee wouldn't be around to pull him out of a bad call.
Choices:
A: Pull out your weapons the second they get close.
B: Ask for help.
Relationships:
Duck is your son. You'll protect him no matter what. 10/10
Ben is a dumb kid, but he's alright. He's gotten better over time. 8/10
Travis is a bit of a pain in the ass, but he's the second smartest member of the group too. 7/10
((QOTC: So.. What do you think of this premise? Who will make appearances from season one? Will there be other characters from seasons other than season one? You'll just have to find out! Tell me if this scenario sounds good so far in the reviews and I'll see you all tomorrow.))