What was left of the motel group were now walking through the dark and desolate roads of Atlanta. Thunder continued to roar, as the screams from the people living in the market continued to fade in the distance as they walked further and further away. Multiple brick buildings loomed over the group as they passed beneath an overpass. They were temporarily shielded from the heavy rain and began to take a breath.
Under the overpass it was pitch black, luckily Shane pulled out a flashlight from his bag, providing some source of light. Lee and Clementine took a seat on the ground and rested against the concrete wall of the overpass. The walls were filled with a lot of graffiti.
Lee gazed his eyes over onto some of the graffiti sayings, "Do not fear the flames, it is from the ashes that we are reborn." Shane's flashlight barely illuminated the saying and it eventually went into darkness as Shane moved away. Shane took a seat near Lee, while Logan leaned against the wall opposite of them with his gun in hand.
Shane lightly slid his hand across the top of his head before looking at Lee. "Lee, man, the hell do we go from here?"
The thunder made hearing Shane a difficult task. The flashes from the lightning every so often illuminated the inside of the overpass. Lee slowly raised his head up to look at Shane.
Lee still shook a bit from the left over adrenaline, "Simple. We find somewhere safe. Gotta be something around here."
Shane nodded at Lee before his eyes widened a bit, looking up and out of the overpass. "Shit..." Shane whispered.
Lee and Clementine both turned their heads to look over at what Shane had seen. A horde of walkers, around 60 feet away from them at an intersection, walking towards the direction of the City Market. Logan slowly walked over to Shane and Lee, crouching down onto a knee as he reached them.
He looked over to Shane, then glanced towards Lee, "As long as we stay quiet, we'll be alright." Clementine gave a quick few tugs at Lee's denim jacket. Lee glanced away from the overpass and to Clementine.
"What is it?" Lee whispered to her.
"They're coming!" Clementine said as she got up off of the ground, pointing to the other side of the overpass. Lee raised up slowly off the ground, glaring towards the other end of the overpass. Another flash of lightning illuminated the overpass, but Lee saw nothing.
*THRRRRACK* Another sound of thunder boomed along with another flash. This time Lee caught a glimpse of what was coming. He saw what he assumed to be hundreds of silhouettes approaching from the other side of the overpass.
Lee grabbed onto Clementine's hand and stepped forward as he looked at Shane and Logan, "WE GOTTA FUCKING RUN!" Shane grabbed his flashlight, illuminating the path in front of Lee. Lee ran forward along with Clementine. To his left, there were two buildings, one on the right and one down the road a bit. It was a dead end. Lee walked further down the road, noticing that there was a staircase that led up on top of the overpass. Lee ran up the staircase with Clementine as Shane and Logan followed not long behind.
The horde had just made it out of the overpass, with many following behind them. Lee emerged from the stairwell, and onto a concrete path. He looked ahead to the right of the path and noticed some brick apartment buildings on a hill. The hill was very overgrown with many trees and bushes blocking any path there. He jogged further down the path until he eventually caught sight of the staircase that led up into one of the apartments. Lee sped through the lighter shrubbery and bushes with Clementine still grasping his hand.
Shane and Logan quickly followed after him. Lee ran up the next staircase and finally got to the top, taking a quick 180 turn to get to the door of the apartment building. Lee tried opening the door but it didn't budge from his attempt. He let go of Clementine's hand and began readying a kick. He smashed his leg into the door which nearly made the door fall inwards.
"Come on..." Lee muttered out. He mustered up another kick and smashed his foot into the door. It finally made the door burst open as Lee grabbed back onto Clementine's hand, running inside. Shane and Logan ran inside right after Lee. Shane slammed the door shut and pushed his back against it as he took a deep breath. Lee walked up another set of stairs to the next apartment floor, and turned to face one of the room's apartment rooms.
"Apartment 102. This will work." Lee muttered out to himself. Lee turned the knob to open the apartment door and for once it actually opened.
"No lock, heh." Lee chuckled as he walked inside the apartment. This one was in a surprisingly much better condition then the one Shane and Lee had come into before. The creaking of the wooden floors sounded out as everyone began to walk inside of the apartment. There was a small patio which led to a balcony. Not far behind that, laid a brown couch and coffee table. They faced where there was once a TV. Lee and Clementine took a seat on the couch.
Logan took a seat on a recliner opposite of the couch on the right side of the patio. Shane walked through the hall and into the living room where everyone had begun to rest. He slowly shambled forward towards the patio as he looked outside of it.
He glanced down towards the floor and rubbed his hand across his face, "Lee, that girl is gonna end up dead if we keep doing shit like this." Clementine looked at Shane with wide eyes as he muttered that out, Lee stood up and approached Shane.
Lee winced his eyebrows as he glared at Shane, "Don't you fucking tell me my girl is gonna end up dead, I'll protect her with my life."
Shane chuckled and turned to face Lee as he scoffed, "Yeah, cause you've been doing such a good job of that so far, huh?" Lee felt a sense of guilt and anger as he locked eyes with Shane. Lee clenched his fist.
Shane stepped forward knocking his head into Lee's, "You gonna fuckin' do something?" Shane shoved Lee backwards, knocking him into the coffee table. Lee pushed himself forward with his arm, using his free arm to throw a punch. Shane dodged out of the way of the punch before getting hit with Lee's other fist.
*CRAKK* Shane stumbled back a bit, falling into the white plastered walls of the apartment. Shane groaned as Lee readied another punch.
"STOP!" Clementine yelled out, but it was to no avail. Shane caught Lee's punch with his arm, tucking it under his armpit. He grabbed onto Lee's neck with his free arm and threw a viscous headbutt into Lee's face. Lee stumbled back and fell onto his back, hitting the ground with a loud thud. Shane approached forward before getting met with a hard kick in the gut, Lee quickly shambled back to his feet, tackling Shane into the wall.
Shane groaned in pain as Lee dug his hand into his face, Lee slammed his head into the wall a few times before Shane threw a punch into Lee's gut. However, it did not affect Lee. Lee threw an elbow into the side of Shane's head.
**CRUNKK** Shane stumbled over from the elbow before Logan pushed in between the two. Lee had already readied another punch.
"FUCKING STOP DAMMIT, STOP!" Logan pushed Lee away as he stood between the two with his arms pushed out with a palm in the direction of the two.
"WE HAVE TO BE IN THIS TOGETHER, NOT AGAINST EACH OTHER!" Logan yelled out to the two. Lee scrambled back and towards Clementine as he took a deep breath. Shane pounded his fist into the wall before he walked out of the apartment, slamming the door shut.
"Dammit you two, you're gonna bring the damn dead on us." Logan muttered out before letting himself fall into the recliner. Lee glanced down towards Clementine.
"I'm sorry about this Clementine." Lee crouched down and hugged Clementine tightly.
"It's okay, Lee." Clementine muttered out with a tone of sadness in her voice. Lee let himself relax on the couch as he fell backwards, letting his head fall back into the pillow like couch. Logan glanced up towards Lee before coming forward off of the recliner.
Logan grasped his hands together, "Lee, Shane is kind of right, y'know. You odd to teach that girl how to protect herself, or she ain't long for this world." Lee brought his head up towards Logan, nodding it in agreement.
Lee sighed, "You're right."
Clementine looked up at Lee, her eyes widened with a bit of excitement, "I need to learn how to use a gun, right?"
Lee nodded and responded, "Sure do, Clem. I'll teach you tomorrow morning. Once we get out of this area, at least."
Logan glanced back up towards Lee, "Lee, why don't you catch some sleep, I'll keep watch. I just hope Shane gets over his pissy fit soon." Lee nodded and instantly let his head fall back. He let his arm rest over Clementine's shoulders as he drifted off. The sound of thunder and rain made for a rather calming atmosphere...
The new day was a rather nice one. A day full of sunshine, the rain and thunder had finally moved away and the temperature was decently warm. The group had made their way out of the apartment as they headed back in the direction of the motel in which they had stayed before. They were just now on the highway, but they still had quite a while to go before they would reach the motel.
"Y'know Logan, you never told me how you ended up in that warehouse in the middle of the woods, it was quite strange." Lee chuckled a bit as he glanced towards Logan. Shane walked on the right of Lee with a bruised face. Logan laughed at Lee's comment, noticing how strange it must have been.
"Yeah, definitely, I was looking for some shelter for the night, I ran into a horde of walkers not far from the motel. Made a run for it into the woods. I say staying in that shitty factory was better than being outside with the wind that damn bad. I was actually... on the run from some folks."
Lee nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah, it was pretty damn chilly that day." Deciding not to question him about who he was on the run from, or why for that matter.
The group continued walking forward for a while, having to step out of the way of abandoned vehicles and the every so common corpse. A few walkers were dispatched of on the way. The only sounds being their voices, and the critters.
"Sorry for that bullshit I pulled back at that apartment Lee. Shit is just stressful, y'know man."
Lee looked towards Shane and nodded, "I understand." Shane looked around the highway and back towards the way they came.
"Shit, wishing we had Glenn pull up on our asses right about now."
Lee laughed, all the while curious, Lee raised an eyebrow, "Where did he end up going? Did he tell you?"
Shane nodded, "He said he was gonna go back to some friends in Atlanta. Said they needed his help." Eventually not far in the distance, the motel emerged into view. The group walked inside the perimeter of the motel, stepping over the broken down gate. A few walkers roamed around inside of the motel, which Lee and Shane took out with their knives. The truck that was used to ram down the motel gate still laid inside. Lee looked around, noticing that the surroundings were rather clear of walkers.
Clementine walked up next to Lee.
"Hey Clem, you wanna learn how to shoot right about now?" Clementine nodded excitedly, as she paced around.
"Now I'll be able to take out any monsters!"
Lee smiled, "You sure will, but remember Clementine, the dead aren't the only thing you have to kill." Clementine nodded. Lee put a few bottles that had been laying around the motel perimeter on the back of the truck that he stood in front of. Lee handed his gun to Clementine, and helped her position the gun correctly.
"Make sure to take a deep breath as you aim Clem, you want to be as relaxed as possible." Clementine aimed her gun at the bottle as Lee made sure her elbows were relaxed.
"Go ahead." Lee said affirmingly.
*BANG* *CRACKK!*
The bottle split open from the bullet, as Clementine yelped in excitement. "I DID IT!"
Lee chuckled a bit as he let out a smile, "You're a natural!" Lee and Clementine continued to practice for a while until every bottle had been used up. From a distance, a walker walked into the perimeter of the motel.
*LARRWWWL*
Lee walked to the side of Clementine, "There's your first real target, think you can do it?" Clementine nodded and aimed Lee's gun towards the walker. She took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders, just as Lee had taught her. The walker shambled forward slowly as it raised out its arms at Clementine.
*BANG* A bullet went straight through the walker's forehead as it dropped to the ground. Clementine yelped in excitement once again, turning to look up at Lee.
Clementine raised an eyebrow after her excitement faded away, "If it's a person, where do I aim?" She asked curiously.
"Anywhere. Just make sure you hit them before they hit you." Lee responded. Shane approached Lee slowly, giving him a small nod.
Lee turned to face Shane. "Lee, are we staying here, or are we gonna move on?" Shane exclaimed.
Lee looked at Shane, maybe not so sure himself. "I think we'll head towards Macon. I got family there, and they could still be alive." Clementine looked up towards Lee, her eyebrows winced in a bit of sadness, "What about my parents? They could still be alive too!"