The Homefront
Graham walked out of his home into the cold morning air. Walking own the path to the street and started his trek to the Tipsy Bison. He felt the snow fall on his head and coat. He stops by a banjo player named Gustavo and pet the dog Buckley near him.
Seeing Graham, Gustavo started playing Johny Cash's When the Man Comes Around. Graham smiled as he nodded at him before he continued his walk, his cane keeping him up.
He finally entered the Bison and found it packed. He made his way to the bar to see Seth squirming. Looking around he saw Joel glaring the bigoted man.
The wounded man sighed; he couldn't blame the man after what happened last night. He still wants to whack Seth for the slur he shouted at the party.
"Hello Seth." Graham said coolly.
Seth turned toward Graham and stiffened further seeing the cold look he was being given. "Hey Graham." He greeted me nervously.
"I am here to collect breakfast." Graham said coldly.
"Right away." Seth replied, walking quickly to the kitchen.
"You don't have to scare him further." Maria told him as she approached.
"Joel scared him for Ellie, I am scaring him for a different reason." He told her.
She sighed shaking her head in frustration. "Then make sure he learns from it."
"Here's your breakfast general." Seth said, handing him a burrito.
Before he could even say anything, another voice called. "Hey Seth!"
Graham and Maria turned to see Eve with closed eyes and a forced smile on her face making her look more intimidating with the scars on her cheeks. Seth got even more scared. "Hey…Eve."
"Breakfast." Eve said shortly.
"Right away." Seth said, running to the kitchen.
Maria sighed, 'Seth really walked into it this time.'
She then turned towards Eve and Graham. "Please hold off on doing anything rash, he is going to apologize to Ellie and if he doesn't get why, you two are mad at him, then I will let you and your family at him."
"Works for me, if it works for you sir." Eve said looking towards Graham.
"Works for me and I told you multiple time that you can call me Graham." He said.
"Right s… Graham." She said unsure.
Seth ran back with a burrito. "Here you go Eve."
Like a light switch, Eve's mood turned cold before she took her burrito and headed out of the bar with Graham. Seth asked Maria. "What did I do to them?"
They heard maria scoff at him. Turning to the right they saw Jessie approaching with Ellie right behind him. Eve smirked. "Hey Jessie! Hey Ellie!"
Jessie and Ellie looked slightly scared at Eve, while Graham just shook his head. "I'm heading for the stables, don't torture the two for too long."
Eve's grin widened even further while Graham made his way to the stables. "So, you heard about what happened last night?"
Ellie groaned. "I already told him."
"And I will never forgive her." Jessie said sarcastically.
Eve laughed loudly. Ellie glared at the two walking into the Bison. "So did you tell her who her partner is today?"
Jessie couldn't help but smirk. "Nope."
"I do want to see the look on her face when she finds out." Eve said.
Shaking his head in amusement, Jessie said. "You are cruel, and with your girlfriend together are downright evil."
Making a look of fake shock, Eve gasped. "Jesse how could you say something like that."
He just continued to shake his head. "Don't deny it."
The grin reappeared on Eve's face. "Oh, Dina was the one to kiss Ellie."
Chuckling Jesse said. "Cruel."
Tommy, Joel, Maria, and Ellie made their way out of the Bison. The two took that as their que to follow the four to the stables. Maria turned towards Ellie. "Ellie, I will have you do the Creek trails with Dina."
"Don't Jesse…" Ellie was about to say but was interrupted by Maria.
"I want Jesse and Eve to take over for Rachel and Raymond, those two have been out for far too long."
"Where do we meet them?" Jesse asked.
"If you go to the Northwest lookout they're scheduled to arrive later today but watch yourself there's too many sighting of infected recently."
"Of course." Eve said.
"That goes for all of you as well." Maria told the rest.
Tommy smiled softly. "We will darling."
The couple shared a kiss before Maria stayed behind as the group headed for the stables. Jesse decided to start a conversation. "So I'm heading for the Northwest and Elle is patrolling with her girlfriend."
Ellie huffed in annoyance as the rest of the group laughed. They arrived at a playground where Dina and a bunch of children were having a snowball fight.
Joel turned towards Ellie. "Can you go make sure that Dina gets ready?"
"Why do I have to?"
"Because you're her girlfriend." Eve told her as the group made their way to the stables.
They entered the stables. The stable hands were getting their horses. They found Graham sitting on a chair massaging his thigh.
"You alright general?" Tommy asked.
"Yeah, leg was hurt for a while, so I need to get up, or make an excuse on our account." Joel said as he and his brother received their horses.
"It's all right, I need to stand up anyway." Graham said as he slowly stood up leaning heavily on his cane.
Ellie and Dina enter and retrieve their horses. They follow the group as everyone about to head out received guns and ammo. Jesse and Graham headed to the front. The two then turned to everyone assembled.
"Listen up!" Graham shouted.
Everyone's attention turned towards the wounded man and Jesse. "All right you know the drill." Graham said.
"Run your routes, mark your logbooks, clear any infected you see." Jesse continued.
"Anything you can't handle then come right back." Graham finished. "Good luck."
Getting on their horses, everyone took off once the gate opened. Graham looked on as they all went out to keep the community safe. Sighing, he limped back to the stables and sat on a chair deciding to wait for his children to come home.
Another chapter for all of you good people. Hope you all are doing well. Thank you all for reading please leave a review.