I don't own The Walking Dead. I only own OC's.
Sorry if you find any grammar mistakes. I'm still learning English because it's not my first language.
Darth krayt1: Yeah. It was a really reckless move on Kenny's part. I can't really blame him for this, though as his mind probably was more focused on finding his family than thinking rationally.
The raid had stopped, the storm passing a little while ago leaving the night-time air a bit heavy and cold. The walk back to the motel was a silent one, not having much to say each other after everything went down at the dairy with the St. John family and the deaths of Doug and Larry as the group Jack, Lee, Clementine, Kenny, Duck, Katjaa, Andre, Ben, Travis, Carley, Lilly and Mark made their way through the woods along the wet path back towards their home.
Lee was in front of most of them, he'd given the rifle to Jack who lost his pistol back at the dairy and now held nothing in his hands and Carley walked alongside him. After leaving the dairy and letting the reality of what happened to Doug settle in, the poor woman broke down into tears as she mourned the loss of her boyfriend and Lee did his best to comfort her even if he knew probably nothing would make her feel better now.
Kenny was holding his side, feeling the gunshot from Andy even if the bullet just grazed him and Katjaa stayed by her husbands side, constantly checking on him to make sure he was alright while Duck remained close to his parents. Mark walked at the front of the group, keeping a firm grip on Brenda's revolver as he kept an eye out for walkers. He tried to keep his mind preoccupied as best he could in order to stop himself from thinking about the dairy.
Lilly walked all by herself, not saying a word and she was left alone by everyone as they knew it would be for the best due to what happened with her dad. Lee, Kenny and Jack felt the hate filled glares she was directing towards them every now and then. Travis and Ben kept to each other as they mostly talked about how today went for them and about their place within the new group they were lucky enough to become a part of. Jack kept himself close to the two teenagers, rubbing his cheek as it was still a bit pained from the punch Andy had given him.
"Jack." Jack's mood lit up a bit at the sound of this voice, pulling his hand away from his cheek as he turned towards the source of it and saw Andre catching up to him.
Jack smiled slightly at his friend, "Andre."
"Listen. I just want to say sorry for leaving the motel without any protection." Andre told him in a slightly regretful voice. Even if him arriving at the dairy with Carley and Ben helped Jack and the rest and possibly even stopped more deaths from happening, "We just got too worried about you and the others and felt like we have to check it."
Jack brushed his concerns off, "It's okay, man. If you hadn't show up with the rest, then who knows how worse things would go."
Andre smiled at him and his face grew more disturbed a second later, "Were the St. Johns really killing people? For food."
"Yeah." Jack saw no reason in denying it as it was true. Horrible truth, "The worst part about this is that Clementine almost ate. Duck, on the other hand..."
"Jesus..." Andre shook his head in disgust, "I wish I was there with you and the others at the dairy when you first arrived at it. I could have noticed there was something off and would have found something before Doug..."
"You couldn't do anything, man. Those bastards played all of us. " Jack shook his head, letting out a sigh, "I wish things were different as well. I really do. What happened, happened, though and we have to live with it because there's changing that."
Andre sighed, "Yeah."
Jack shifted his gaze to his new rifle a second later, "I just wish they didn't take my pistol as I grew a bit attached to it. The same goes for my hatchet. It was a gift from Chet as well..."
"Don't worry. I'm sure we'll find you something else you can for melee." Andre reassured him.
Jack smiled slightly, "Like your police baton?"
"Hey. You know it's reserved for me." Andre chuckled.
Jack chuckled in return, "There goes my luck..."
"What about your sickle, though?" Andre asked, pointing at the melee strapped to Jack's side, "I saw you holding it back at the dairy."
Jack gave him an explanation, "I'm thinking of giving it to Travis. He is going to need something to defend himself."
"Yeah. Good idea." Andre nodded in approval as Travis who walked ahead of them with Ben managed to overhear both of them bringing him up in some way.
He looked over his shoulder at them with a raised brow, "What's going on here? You're not badmouthing me. Aren't you?"
"You wish we were?" Jack shot back as a way of litting up the mood between them as he and Andre caught up to Travis and Ben. Travis pouted at his reply which got chuckles out of Jack and Andre. Ben seemed to be holding back an amused as well. Jack spoke to him a second later, "Relax. We've been talking about you giving you and your friend some weapons so that you can defend yourself in the future."
Travis smiled at this, "Sweet."
"So, are we really one of you now?" Ben asked in an uncertain.
Andre nodded in confirmation, "You've been one of us since we found you in the forest earlier today."
"Hard to believe all of this crap happened on the same day..." Jack muttered under his breath.
"Okay then." Ben replied in an uncertain tone, "Well... I just wanted to say I'm sorry."
"What do you feel sorry for?" Jack asked with a confused look as Andre looked equally as confused by this.
Ben was trying to make sure he didn't say anything wrong on accident, "A lot of things, I guess. The trouble in the woods this morning, that whole argument you guys had over me, Travis and Mr. Parker, my teacher nearly killing you, what happened at that Dairy..."
"You have nothing to apologize for." Jack brushed off his apologies.
Andre nodded in agreement, "Stuff like this just happens nowadays. It ain't no one's fault."
"I see..." Ben replied with his uncertain expression fading away.
Travis gave him a pat on his shoulder, "Don't think much about it Benji. Let's just focus on going forward."
"Alright." Ben nodded in agreement.
"Jack." Their conversation got cut short by Lee a second later. All four of them looked at him and saw him having his eyes on Jack and holding cam-corder, "Mind if I borrow you for a moment?
"Sure." Jack excused himself from Andre, Travis and Ben and stepped closer to Lee. The two men waited until they would be out of their hearing range before Jack voiced his question to him, "What is it?"
"We should talk with Kenny about what happened with the meat locker with Larry." Lee replied as he gestured to Kenny who was sat down on a rock by Katjaa who began examining his food.
"Yeah. We probably should..." Jack's expression grew a bit more serious at this, knowing it was something they had do as a way of discussing how to proceed forward now. Things weren't going to be the same in their group after today. Just as the two moved towards Kenny and his family to have their conversation with the fisherman, Jack pointed at the camcorder in Lee's hand, having recognized it as the camcorder Lee found back in Jolene's camp, "Ain't that the camcorder you found back in that crazy woman's camp?"
Lee nodded in confirmation, "Yeah."
"Where did you get that?" Jack voiced his next question to him, "I thought the St. Johns..."
"Mark gave it to me. He told me Katjaa managed to grab it from my stuff before Brenda grabbed her." Lee explained to him.
"I see." Jack replied in understanding just as they made their way to Kenny and his family.
"How are you doing?" Katjaa asked in concern as she continued to examine her husband and his wounds.
"I'll be fine. I'm just not as young as I used to be." Kenny tried to make her less worried about him, letting out a painful grunt as he looked behind his wife and saw Lee and Jack standing there. He shifted his attention back to his wife and son a second later, "Hon, go on ahead and give me, Jack and Lee a second?"
"Of course." Katjaa nodded and walked off with Duck, leaving her husband alone with Lee and Jack.
Kenny waited until his wife would be out of the hearing range before speaking up, "There's gonna be fallout."
"For killing Lilly's dad? Yeah, I would imagine so." Lee nodded at him, knowing there was no pointing in denying this.
Kenny shifted his gaze between Lee and Jack questioningly, "What do you think?"
"I'm with you, Kenny. We'll do what has to be done." Lee gave him his answer a second later, looking like he meant it.
"Me too." Jack nodded in agreement, "What we did in the meat locker had to be done and I won't deny it."
"You're damn right." Kenny smiled at their loyalty, "Listen, that RV back at the motor inn is just about ready to roll. I want both of you to come with us. I mean it."
"Everyone..." Mark grabbed everyone's attention, cutting the conversation between Lee, Kenny and Jack. He was coming back from the road he just gone down, holding Brenda's revolver in his right hand, "We may have a small problem."
Travis sighed, "What now?"
"Not more strangers..." Ben gulped.
The group of twelve wasted no time and all of them followed Mark down the road, hearing a new sound in the distance. This new sound voice which sounded like an engine of a car became more clear to them as they neared the source of it. They lowered themselves out of view when they discovered the source of the noise. It was station wagon parked on the side of this dirt road.
"Do you see anyone?" Andre asked. It was hard to tell if anyone was inside or near the car from here.
"Not sure." Carley responded, "Hard to see."
"Maybe they have a flat tire or something." Travis theorized.
Lee peeked out of the bushes, "Don't shoot. We're here to help."
"It seems like we're the only people here." Jack stated a moment later after Lee received no answer.
"I'll go check it out." Lee volunteered.
"I'll go with you." Jack offered as Lee nodded at him.
"Keep your guard up, you two." Andre told them, already readying his shotgun for the possible confrontation, "It might be trap."
Jack and Lee nodded at him to show him they weren't intending to lower their guard anytime soon. The two of them slowly approached the car, keeping themselves down low just to be safe. Kenny waited for a few seconds before following them to the car with the rest of the group slowly following him a second later. Lee and Jack stopped next to the open door and looked inside, seeing there was nobody inside and that the key in the ignition.
"Who just leaves a car unlocked in the middle of the woods this?" Jack wondered out loud.
Lee pulled they key out of the ignition and noticed that the gas was empty. He pointed at it, "Most likely because of it."
Jack looked towards where Lee was pointing at and nodded his head, "Makes sense."
"Oh crap!" Kenny finally reached the car with the rest of the group. Lee found him gazing intently through the back glass into the trunk, there was plenty of boxes with food in them back there. Kenny looked back at Katjaa, "Baby, you've gotta see this! There is a shit load of food and supplies back here!"
"I'll be dammed." A large smile grew on Jack's face the moment he laid his eyes on the food as the rest of the group gathered around the station wagon and took a good look at this, "Finally something good happened today."
Kenny nodded in agreement, "Took those words out my mouth, pal."
Katjaa shifted her gaze from the food to her group, "This food could save all of us!"
"Not all of us." Lilly replied darkly as she gave Kenny, Lee and Jack a look of spite. The three men did their best to act as if they didn't feel it on them.
"Yeah..." Carley agreed with a a saddened look on her face.
"Look, we don't know these people are dead." Ben voiced what he was thinking.
Mark nodded in agreement, "Yeah, Ben's right, they could just be out foraging for food or gas."
"If they come back," Lilly began with everyone having their attention on her, "Then we're just monsters who came out of the woods and ruined their lives."
"That is if they're still alive." Jack countered her point, "Do you really think someone who is still alive would be stupid enough to leave this many supplies out in the woods unprotected like this."
Travis nodded in agreement, "He's right. We need to take it. We ain't gonna last long without them."
"But is this how they should get it?" Mark voiced his question, "By stealing?"
Andre rubbed the back of his head, "I'm not so sure about this either. What if this food belongs to the bandits from those woods...?"
"Then, it means we need to take it even more." Travis told him, "Those bastards deserve to starve to death."
Jack sighed, "I know it's drastic, but it could be the very difference between life and death for everyone else here... for Duck and Clementine.
Travis nodded in agreement, "Yeah."
"Thank you, you two." Kenny was happy Jack and Travis agreed with him.
Duck looked up at his parents, "Dad, whose car is this?"
"Don't worry about that Duck" Kenny replied, wanting his son to brush those concerns off, "It's ours now."
"It's abandoned, Ducky. Don't worry." Katjaa didn't want Duck to worry about this,
"What if it's not?" Clementine's voice grabbed everyone's attention as everyone turned towards her. Once everyone had their eyes on her, she voiced her second thoughts on this. The entire group turned towards her as she continued, "What if it's not abandoned? What if it is someone's?"
Lee stayed silent for a moment, taking a look at the supplies again as he thought about the up sides and the down sides of taking the food with them. He made his choice a second later. He crouched down on in front of Clementine and let out a sigh as he gave her his reply, "We have to take this, Clementine. We need it to survive."
Lilly glared at him, "Who said it's your decision to make?"
Kenny glanced at her with an annoyed look on his face while still clutching his side, "Hey, we don't have time for this shit. Like it or not, we need this food."
"Ain't you the same woman who complained about us barely having any food for the last few weeks?" Jack added, not being in the mood wto deal with Lilly right now. He shifted his gaze to Lee a second later, "Now get over here and open the trunk, Lee."
Clementine slowly nodded at Lee, looking a bit upset about all of this as Lee stood back up and unlocked the hatch to the station wagon with the keys he had pulled out from the ignition. Jack and Kenny helped him take out out the boxes and pass them out to the others to be carrier back to the motor inn until everyone aside from Duck, Clementine who weren't given a box because they were kids and Andre and Mark who were given anything due to them keeping watch had a box.
After the supplies were taken out, Lee looked down and a red Brooklyn hoodie caught his attention, "This hoodie looks to be about your size. Why don't you hold onto this, it might get cold."
"It's not mine." Clementine shook her head.
"Well, think of it like you're holding onto it. You can give it back if we ever meet up with them. Okay?" Lee replied as Clementine hesitantly took the hoodie from him. He closed the hatch a second later, leaving the station wagon empty. He tossed the keys back into the passanger seat, feeling a bit guilty over what he did right now, but he knew their group needed those supplies to survive.
Carley came over to them and handed Clementine a little packet, "Here, Mark found some batteries in the glove compartment. I thought you might want some for your walkie-talkie."
Clementine grabbed the battery packet from her even if she remained upset about taking stuff from the station wagon, "Thanks."
Lee tried to cheer up Carley with one of their playful jabs, "Batteries huh? Think you can handle those?"
Carley smiled slightly at this. The first time everyone saw out of her since they left the dairy, "You'll never let me live that down, huh?"
"We can use them on the camcorder that I gave you earlier." Mark suggested as Lee nodded at him and handed him the camcorder. He played with the batteries and the camcorder for a second and saw what it had recorded on it a second later. His expression instantly grew more disturbed, "...Lee."
"What is it?" Lee asked as Mark kept his eyes on the camcorder.
"You need to see this." Mark replied, holding the camcorder out to Lee with his expression remaining disturbed by whatever he just saw.
Lee took the video camera from Mark and turned it on, wanting to know what unsettled him so much. His eyes widened the moment the video started, "...Oh God."
The video camera showed Motor-Inn in its early days, before they even set up the fence. Someone could be heard breathing as they recorded, making Lee realize Jolene was watching them for the entire time. A chill went down Lee's spine once he came to this realization. The thought someone was watching him and his group for this entire time was terrifying.
Almost everyone was on screen, working on getting the place which would become their home for the next three months safe. Larry and Mark were carrying a couch out of one of the motel rooms, Lee, Jack and Kenny were pushing a car away from the front of the motel. Carley and Doug were sitting on some chairs, having a conversation with each other and Andre was working on the wall.
The video zoomed into Clementine who was drawing on the floor and Lilly who approached her to talk. The camcorder cut quickly and another video started. The camcorder was on the floor as something was happening in the background. Jolene's voice screamed out as the video continued, "JAKE, BART, LINDA and ALL YA'LL fuckin' sickos from the Save-Lots! They call ya'll bandits! But you're FUCKIN' RAPIST MONSTERS..."
The video showed the motel group from earlier in the day, after Ben and Travis have arrived at the motel with their wounded teacher. The video zoomed onto Clementine, then followed Lee as he walked up to her, "Oh darlin' baby. Look at you. Look. At. You. Oh, you need a mama, sweetheart. We won't let them bandits get you, will we..."
"How ya doing Clementine?" Lee's voice rang out when the camera showed him approaching Clementine.
Clementine nodded at him, "Okay."
"Where's your hat?" Lee asked her another question.
"I don't know." Clementine responded, "Can you help me find it?"
"Sure." Lee nodded without hesitation, "When did you lose it?"
"I had it a couple days ago." She answered.
Jolene zoomed out, cutting off what Lee was going to say next, "Ya'll thinkin' you're safe, sittin' there actin' like things are the way they used to be." She turned the camera toward herself, showing her face, "The dead don't kill their own. It's the livin' you gotta be afraid of... the people I used to call friends... The people who took..." She held back tears, quickly collecting herself, "Don't worry, little girl. Bandits got their eye on that Dairy. As long as they keep getting food from them, you'll be safe. I promise."
Finally done with the second episode. Three more left to go.
Hope it wasn't so bad. See you in another chapter.
