Chapter 6

Hard to Hear

Percy's foot tapped aimlessly against the floor of the car. He watched the scenery fly by, feeling uncomfortable by the tension in the air. His entire body tingled as he tried to keep his fingers from drumming against the door. He turned to look at his very unhappy companion in the driver's seat.

As if sensing his gaze, her brown eyes snapped to him momentarily before returning to the road. "What are we doing, Lilly?" He asked her with a grumble. Riptide resting against his right leg, trapped between him and the door.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "We're checking Robins Air Force Base for the group, either their fences are up and we'll have some protection with the government or we'll be able to find food and other supplies." She told him, her tone was neutral. But she seemed to be trying to keep herself from snapping at him.

Percy rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant. Why is it just the two of us and no one else?"

She kept her gaze firmly on the road, Percy idly noting the random car on the side of the street every couple miles. He was suspicious when Lilly suggested for just the two of them to come check out the Air Force base. She had been having a lot of spats with Kenny over control of the group, whether it be because of food or the motel itself. Percy had personally stayed out of it, not willing to get between two adults who were acting like children.

He had not wanted to come, he did not like leaving Clementine at the motel without him. While it was true that both Lee and Carley would protect her without him asking, and over the past month he had come to respect and trust both of them. He was still worried for the young girl, and believed she was far safer when he was around.

"I need your help, your support to keep this group together." She said after a moment, her right hand lightly tapping the steering wheel of their sedan.

"Haha." He chuckled sarcastically. "Both of you made it awfully clear how much you cared about my opinion as of late, considering I'm barely an 'adult.'" He did air quotes around the word adult. "What did you say in particular?" Percy asked her rhetorically. "'Some dumb college kid shouldn't even have a say, all he's going to do is get us killed.'"

Her cheeks colored red in embarrassment, her grip on the steering wheel tightening ever so slightly. After all the verbal abuse he had dealt with from her father and the way she belittled him for his age, it felt really good to throw her words back in her face. She knew they were both still upset with how things were handled in the pharmacy, but Percy didn't care. They were major dicks.

"Listen, I'm sorry about that. But Kenny…"

Percy cut her off quickly with a raise of his hand. "Listen, I couldn't care any less about your arguments. The only thing I care about is Clementine's safety."

"So you wouldn't care if the rest of us died?" Lilly asked.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Clearly." He replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Honestly, you and Kenny are so dramatic. Do you not recall me saving your life a week ago? I could have just let those walkers rip you to shreds. Would have saved me a lot of trouble." He grumbled crossing his arms.

"Thank you for that." She said quietly after a moment.

"You're welcome, you know up in New York we typically thank the person right after they do something nice." Percy sassed.

Lilly sighed deeply, her face twitching as she tried to ignore his tone. "Look, Percy. I know you and I got off on the wrong foot, but you have to agree that Kenny is reckless, impatient and going to get us all killed."

Percy didn't respond, instead looking at Lilly in thought.

After a few tense moments of silence, she frowned. "Well? What are you thinking?"

"You want my honest opinion?" He asked her, a look of worry appeared on her face momentarily before she breathed deeply and nodded. "Neither of you are what this group needs to survive, you're all going to get us killed." He said harshly. "You, Kenny, and your dad, all the three of you are driving wedges between the group. You need to learn how to work together, how to agree and compromise."

Lilly scowled and glared at him. "How am I supposed to do that when no one has my back, when you, and Lee and Carley all agree with Kenny?" She growled.

"Just because we're silent doesn't mean we agree with Kenny, but the two of you have made it clear that the rest of our opinions don't particularly matter to you." Percy crossed his arm and looked out the window, gazing at the Georgia countryside. "If you really want us all to survive, then you both need to work together, and with us for that matter, ask the rest of us our opinions, I'm sure all of us should be able to work out our problems together if we work on them as a group."

Lilly huffed. "Shouldn't be surprised, that's exactly what Carley said. The two of you…" She muttered. So she was trying to convince everyone to agree with her separately, an interesting strategy.

Percy's eyes narrowed and he turned and glared at her. "I'm not sure what you're muttering about, care to enlighten me?" He growled.

"Nothing." She snapped back.

They sat in silence for a while, Percy casually watching the scenery fly by before they suddenly slowed down.

"My God." Lilly muttered quietly in shock.

Percy, slightly startled by the outburst, snapped toward the front to look at the gates of the Air Force base. Or what was left of them. The entire brick building and the canopy above it had collapsed, charred pieces of metal littered the ground and the concrete rubble almost entirely covered the entryway.

He shared a concerned glance with Lilly. "How could this have happened, it looks like a bomb was dropped?" Lilly pointed out and Percy had to agree. How could the United States military fall so quickly? It didn't seem to make any sense. He noticed a walker wearing military fatigues almost entirely crushed, just the head and arm reaching out left visible.

The car slowly rolled to a stop as Percy searched for a way their vehicle could get through, the exit bound lane right outside the gates was completely blocked with cars, many of them burnt and destroyed as well. With seemingly no life anywhere in sight. The entry bound lane was completely empty.

He could already tell that they weren't going to bring the group here. It had already fallen and it was compromised, it would take them forever to completely clear the base if they even wanted too. Not to mention if there were other gates that had fallen or fences that were down. Percy would definitely not risk Clementine in that way.

"Maybe there are survivors." Percy muttered. "We should look."

"Survivors?" Lilly questioned in surprise. "Who cares? We need supplies." She mentioned and Percy felt his gut twist with a grimace at the cold response, the callous and disgusting way that people in their group were mentioning other people, as if helping people was stupid! It absolutely pissed Percy off, and it made him want to head off on his own with Clementine in tow.

Percy turned and glared at the woman. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He growled at her.

Lilly turned and glared at him. "What's wrong with me?" She barked in response. "What's wrong with you? We need supplies, not more people, we can't feed anyone as it is." She snapped at him. "Your foolish need to save people is going to kill all of us." Her face was turning red.

"Excuse me," He growled. "I would rather die, than turn into a heartless asshole who would let others die because it's the easiest thing to do." He grabbed Riptide and opened the door before quietly shutting it. Despite his anger, he wasn't going to be stupid and make more noise than was necessary.

He crawled over some of the wreckage and saw nothing in sight. He cautiously stepped down onto the road leading toward the heart of base.

"Percy, wait. We can't split up." Lilly said rather loudly.

He turned and glared at her so harshly she turned white and immediately went silent. His look saying shut up or you're going to get us killed. He quickly looked around on the other side of the rubble. Noting that there wasn't any space for their car to fit through.

Sighing quietly he slung Riptide over his right shoulder, holding it in place and began walking down the center of the roadway. Oddly suspicious of the complete emptiness of the entire base. He vaguely heard Lilly walking slightly behind him, but he didn't care if she followed or not.

The way she so casually wrote off other human life honestly disgusted him beyond belief. Percy did not want to be a part of such a selfish group, and he didn't want Clementine growing up around someone like Lilly or even like Kenny. Both were a little too self-oriented for his tastes. Would they just let someone innocent die because it was hard? Or what?

He aimlessly kept walking, still no sign of life. Not even any walkers, it was odd for what he imagined would be a pretty populated area. Had this place fallen immediately and they all tried to escape? It just made little sense to Percy.

Lilly knew her way around the base, as she had seemingly worked there at some point. But was letting him take the lead, meaning he was probably going the right way.

After a while Lilly grabbed his shoulder and pointed down a random road. "Commissary is this way, we can check for food and supplies." He nodded without a word and followed her down the road. Random buildings that Percy was sure were important in some way, but they seemed empty. Windows smashed, doors knocked off their hinges. It looked a lot like the neighborhood that Percy had found Clementine in.

Strangely, still no cars or wrecks.

It was then that he noticed the brick building a short distance away. He breathed a sigh of relief as the building still stood strong, he had been expecting it to have been destroyed much like the gates. The windows were all smashed and pieces of plywood and wire mesh covered all of them. Preventing any walkers from entering. The glass doors remained, but were covered with wood as well. Cars in the parking lot were ransacked and destroyed, but nothing seemed to be too bad.

He ducked down behind a cement barrier at the sight of over a dozen walkers and gestured for Lilly to do the same. She was close to him, a small frown on her face as she whispered. "There's dozens of them wandering. This is pointless." She muttered.

He shook his head in response. "The wood and mesh has kept the building from falling completely, there's a chance that there are survivors in there or the supplies have been untouched." He informed her, she looked doubtful but nodded to his assessment.

"It makes sense, but the entire inside could be crawling with them as well. There's no way to tell." She replied.

He nodded. "True, but it's worth a look."

"I'll lead them away and circle back, while you get inside." Lilly said.

Percy nodded without a word and waited idly as Lilly took off. He heard a loud crash and peered over the barrier to see all of the walkers turning toward the sound. What he assumed to be Lilly, it took a couple minutes due to how slow they were but eventually the parking lot in front cleared.

He took off toward the doors, getting there in a few moments. Not even breathing heavily.

Frowning at the blood stained handprints at the door, as if people were locked out. He pushed the door open, slowly and quietly. Disappointed at how easy it was, more than likely the inside had fallen as well.

He stepped inside the Commissary. Nearly freezing at the sight laid out before him. Several dozen people lay dead, their bodies riddled with bullet holes for the ones that remained whole. Most of the corpses were ripped apart. The ground bathed almost entirely red, this had been a slaughter. Had the military turned on the people? What had happened here? He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

There were a couple walkers, but the entryway into the grocery store section of the building was closed with a gate made of steel and locked, he frowned, disappointed. But there must be another way in, he thought to himself. He looked around, noticing an Air Force Federal Credit Union to his left that was completely ransacked and destroyed.

To his right before the Commissary was a closed door, where several walkers were banging their hands against it.

Percy counted six walkers, four were banging against the sealed metal door while two were chewing on a person in civilian clothes. Several bullets were in their head and body, their entire upper torso had been completely chewed through. He made a disgusted face.

The first walker didn't even react as Percy walked up to it and drove Riptide right through it. The second one looked up and made to stand but Percy was quick effortlessly slicing its head in half, watching the dark tainted brain matter cover the floor.

The four that had been preoccupied turned toward him at the sound and he grimaced. He had hoped they wouldn't have heard him. But no matter, two were in front while two were a few steps in front. In one arc he decapitated the first two. Their bodies flopping to the ground while their decapitated skulls continued to bite toward him. He paid them no mind, slicing through the walker to the left before finishing the one to the right.

He frowned unhappily at the loss of life that occurred before he drove Riptide into the skulls of the first two. No one should have to suffer in that matter, Percy thought to himself with a frown.

Percy looked at the door that the walkers had been trying to enter through, it was dented and stained with blood. Walking up to it cautiously, he readied Riptide and grabbed the door handle. He flung it open and came face to face with a brown rifle. His eyes widened and he lashed out with his free hand, grabbing the barrel of the gun and shoving it to the left. Wincing as the loud blast caused his left ear to start ringing violently, glass shattered behind him loudly and he bit back a curse.

"Oh my God, I'm so sor…ugk" Percy snarled and with extreme force wrenched the speaker toward him effortlessly. He shoved the man, sending him sprawling to the ground. Now holding Riptide in his right hand while he gripped the barrel of the rifle in his left.

He leveled Riptide at the man's chest toward his neck before he heard the door slam open behind him. "Percy, oh my God are you okay?" He heard Lilly's voice frantically cry. He turned toward her to see relief flood her as she gazed at them. She stepped up next to him.

He quickly handed her the rifle, she effortlessly racked the slide, putting another round in the chamber before aiming the rifle at the man. Her expression was livid, something Percy hadn't been expecting to see. Despite their rocky relationship, she was seemingly worried for him. He was glad to see she was alright as well. "Your ear." Lilly pointed at. Percy frowned and raised his free hand up and swiping his ear, he grimaced as he looked at the blood staining his fingertips. His left ear was a dull echo.

The man's light blue eyes looked terrified and stormy. His hands were up and shaking violently as he stared at the two of them. Percy quickly scanned him, noting the black hair and the rectangle wire glasses upon his pale face. He wore a brown jacket and a pair of jeans.

"Jesus Christ, I'm so sorry. I thought you were one of those things. Please don't kill me." He pleaded and begged.

Percy relaxed, Riptide dropping from the man's neck. The man breathed a huge sigh of relief, before Lilly turned to him with a murderous expression on her face. "Percy." She growled, causing Percy to meet her eyes. "He could have killed you, that gunshot probably led all those walkers back here." She grounded out.

His eyes widened. "Shit." He muttered. She was probably right.

"We're going to have to go." Lilly said. Percy scanned the area. There was a giant vending machine that was shattered and empty near the doors.

"We can't go back empty handed, not with an extra mouth to feed." Lilly argued. The man opened his mouth to speak but Lilly turned to him and pointed the rifle right at his chest. "Shut the fuck up!" The man's hands began to violently shake some more.

"We're not just going to kill him." Percy snapped back.

"He tried to kill you!" She said exasperated.

"It was an accident." Percy growled. "I recall you trying to kill some of us at the beginning." Her face was beginning to turn a dark red.

"I can get us into the Commissary. I have the keys." The man said shakily. "We can get supplies to your group."

"The walkers will be here in a moment in the front, we don't have time." Lilly growled. "Plus, even if we did, what, we're just going to carry them all back to the car? We can't get a car into the base, it's destroyed."

"There's an exit in the back, if we block the entrance we can have some time. Use some shopping carts…" He trailed off quietly.

"And why do you have the keys?" Percy questioned him.

"They didn't want everybody storming the place for food when the outbreak happened. They told me to lock it." He gulped nervously. "It was overrun a couple days ago, they were just killing innocents trying to get food." The man said shakily. "Then they left, I have no idea if the rest of them fell or not, but they haven't been back."

"And weapons?" Lilly asked.

"I know a place where we can get some, not a lot but a couple more pistols and rifles."

"Okay." Percy said, "I'm going to block the doors with that vending machine." He pointed at it to their nods. "You open the gate to the Commissary and then we'll close it behind us." They both nodded at him, Percy reached a hand out to the man. "What's your name?" He asked, the color was beginning to return to the man's face now that he knew they weren't going to kill him.

"Mark." He said hesitantly.

"Alright Mark, I'm Percy and that's Lilly. Let's get that gate open and let's go."

Percy rushed to the door, just in time as he heard the groans getting closer. He grabbed the vending machine and dragged it into the opening. It wasn't particularly heavy to him, but as he reminded himself it was much heavier than it should have been. Considering his heritage was noticeably absent in this apocalypse.

He heard a screech of the gate opening and turned toward Lilly and Mark who were waiting for him. He walked over to them and grinned as the gate closed behind them. He walked over to a shopping cart. "Alright, let's get as much shit as we can." He muttered to the two of them.

They finally reached the front gates of the base, their three shopping carts packed to the brim with food and guns. Adding to Carley's pistol they now had seven total pistols and three scoped rifles. Along with a load of bullets.

They packed the car full, it was dead silent the entire ride back. He could tell that Lilly wasn't particularly pleased with adding to their numbers. But Percy wasn't going to let an innocent man die. He was scared and accidentally shot at him, plus without him, they wouldn't have gotten all of these weapons and food.

He wondered if Lilly would consider this a success or not. Percy most certainly would.

They pulled into the hotel, the makeshift gate being opened and then closed by Lee as they pulled in. He had only just stepped out of the car when a small body slammed into him. A bright smile covered his face as Clementine's small arms encircled his waist.

"Hey Clem." He said brightly.

She looked up at him with her large innocent eyes. "I'm so glad you're back! I was so worried." She said, her voice warbling for a moment, a small frown appearing on her face and her eyes started to glisten. He rubbed her head on the top of her baseball cap. She squeaked slightly and glared at him as he looked at her mischievously.

"I'll always come back to you kiddo." He said.

"Promise?" She questioned and Percy felt a tug in his gut. How could he promise her something like that? It was incredibly dangerous.

"I promise." She squeezed his hand before running off.

"Holy shit!" He heard Kenny's voice, he spun to the man as Mark stepped out of the car. "Look at all this food, and who are you?" Kenny's eyes turned and glared at Lilly. "I thought we weren't adding anyone to the group." He growled at her accusingly before the man could respond.

"I'm Mark." He said.

Lee smiled at the man. "I'm Lee." The two shook hands while Lilly and Kenny continued to glare at each other.

Lilly crossed her arms and glared back. "Why don't you ask Percy? He's the one who made the decision." She turned and glared at him.

Percy glared at the woman before he turned his venomous glare onto Kenny. "We wouldn't have any of this food or any of those guns without him. I'm not in the business of letting innocent people die." He crossed his arms in return.

"I don't know why you think you can make the fucking decisions around here." He nearly sighed as Larry joined the conversation. Carley sidled up next to Lee at the same time.

"Dad…" Lilly started but Percy raised his hand to stop her.

"Wanna go another round?" Percy stepped toward the old man, his temper flaring.

Larry glared at him harshly. "You caught me off guard last time, keep running your fucking mouth and I'll put you in the ground." He stepped toward Percy.

"Enough." Lee growled. Stepping in between the two of them. "We all need to learn to act like adults." He turned toward Percy who gave him a look of disbelief and gave him a warning look before raising a finger. "You're purposely antagonizing him." Lee responded. His disappointed demeanor reminded him of Paul back in school.

"He's a prick." Lee glared at him. Percy scrunched his face in agitation. "Regardless, Mark is now one of us. Any of you have a problem with that, you can take it up with me." Mark looked at him gratefully, but he also looked a tad nervous.

"Look, Percy's right." Lilly said.

"Why are you so pissy then?" Kenny snapped back and Percy nearly groaned, the man had to be so purposefully annoying.

Lilly turned and glared harshly at him. "I think Percy should make the decisions from now on." Percy's eyes widened in surprise, he wasn't the only one. Both Carley and Lee looked stunned.

"No way." Kenny said.

"Absolutely fucking not." Larry snarled in unison, both men paused before looking at each other hatefully. Realizing that the two of them were agreeing with each other.

"Or we could make decisions as a group of adults." Carley said, her eyes flashed toward him with a slight worry, as if he was going to be mad at her.

"I agree. We all need to work together, not just one of us should be in charge of making the decisions. Otherwise this group will fall apart." Kenny nor Larry gave verbal agreement, instead choosing to glare at all of them.

"I'll decide what's best for my family." He snapped enraged.

Lilly growled at him, and they began bickering. Percy's eyes met Carley's and Lee's exasperated ones, and without a word he turned away from them and walked toward where Clementine had run off too.

They would be better off without them. Percy decided at that moment, they were definitely going to get someone killed and Percy didn't want it to be him or Clementine. That's for sure.