(Anne Marshall belongs to AquaDestinysEmbrace.)
(Chris Rudy, Misty Rudy, and Chelsea Jernigan all belong to Chris Rudy!)
(I DO NOT own The Walking Dead, Code Lyoko or any of the names or brands that appear in this story. But I do own my OCs)
Back at the motel, Jennifer was sitting in a chair with her Colt revolver in her hands as she kept a watchful eye out for walkers or for any of the people who went to find Rick's group. Hours earlier she swore that she could hear a single gunshot somewhere far off in the distance, but she couldn't be certain. Eventually she just pushed it out of her mind.
Bored beyond all measure of belief while on guard duty, Jennifer sputtered her lips as she kicked her feet up on an old bucket she found and made her unofficial footrest. She cocked, un-cocked and re-cocked her silver six-shooter over and over again, alternating between looking down the sights and just aiming it randomly at the trees.
The story goes that this revolver had been in her family for many generations going all the way back to her great-great-great grandfather Isaac Mason, who apparently won it from some guy in a San Antonio poker game in 1890-something. Jennifer heard that he ended up killing ten Spaniards with it as a member of Theodore Roosevelt's Rough Riders during the Spanish-American War, but she wasn't entirely certain if that was true or not.
When she received it as an heirloom from her father on her 10th birthday, Jennifer made sure to work on restoring the handgun to a working state herself. It took a long time and a lot of effort in the Mason Family Ranch's workshop, but she was proud of the finished product.
It was a nice gun. She was happy to have it. And she never would've expected she'd ever use it to shoot undead creatures.
As fucked as this will sound given the current circumstances the world is suffering from... it was kind of cool being able to do that.
Sighing with sheer boredom, Jennifer gave a skilled twirl to her handgun before she set it back in her holster. She checked her wristwatch and she almost cheered when she noticed that her shift of guard duty was finally almost over.
The first thing she planned to do was to just head inside, find some sort of snack to munch on, plop down on the closest bed she could find, get nice and comfy, and then sleep until she was literally mistaken for a corpse.
She wasn't joking. She hadn't slept at all in the last two days and the only thing she wanted on earth right now was to sleep until she was very, very comatose.
However, Jennifer's plan was almost immediately changed against her will. Just before she was about to get out of her chair, Jennifer noticed some movement in the treeline. Her eyes widening, Jennifer unholstered her gun and she aimed it directly at the trees since she knew that it was most likely a walker or multiple walkers.
Thankfully the first thing that came out of the woods was just Lee Everett, not a walker. Jennifer's nerves calmed down and she felt relieved as she lowered her gun and put it back in its holster once more. After Lee came Chris, and then Ulrich and Chelsea. But then Jennifer's eyes widened when she saw who was with the three...
Yumi, Robert, Kyra, Charles, Rick, Glenn, Andrea, Lori, Shane and Carol came out of the trees as they followed the three remaining members of the search party.
They had finally found Rick and his group, along with the missing Lyoko Warriors...
Without hesitation, Jennifer bolted straight for the rooms of the motel so she could head inside and tell everyone that the search teams had found Rick and the others. Within seconds, the motel group and the other Lyoko Warriors hurried outside.
Likewise, Clementine hurried outside to engulf Lee in a tight hug, one which he gladly returned to the little girl. She had been worried about her protector and friend being out there for so long, even if he had people watching out for him.
And of course, for the motel group, Glenn being there in the flesh was a very unexpected sight among Rick and his people. The Korean man was quickly swarmed by most of the motel group giving him high-fives or handshakes or hugs, all being extremely happy to see the guy again weeks after he left for Atlanta.
Miranda, Alexandr, and Rebecca all hurried out ahead of the motel group. Once they saw their lost friends, they all including Jennifer immediately broke out running to the front "gates" to meet them. Even Patrick was hurrying at a fast speed despite the cane he was using now, though Verity helped him and made sure he wouldn't overexert himself as he healed.
The four found Lyoko Warriors all ran towards them, and soon the teens all met in a large group hug.
There was a lot of tears, there was a lot of smiles, and all of the Lyoko Warriors from Rick's group and the Lyoko Warriors from the motel were mutually overjoyed that their lost friends were still alive. It was truly a miracle.
The Lyoko Warriors were finally reunited once again...
"We looked all over the place for you guys!" Miranda smiled at her no longer missing friends..
"We did too! I can't believe you guys all made it!" Charles laughed, joyfully.
"This is a miracle!" Yumi happily told the five Lyoko Warriors who came out of the motel. And in every concievable way, it really was.
Within moments, Sophia cautiously walked out of one of the rooms and went into the parking lot to see what was happening. Her eyes widened when she saw Rick and the others, but she openly began crying with joy once she noticed her mother.
Carol noticed her in the parking lot, and she began crying too as she and Sophia hurried to reunite with each other. The mother and daughter engulfed each other in a tight hug and cried with joy and relief.
To the joy of everyone, the mother and daughter were finally together once again...
"Great, good, you found your people." Lilly stated with annoyed and flat tone of voice. "So, wFhen're you all gonna get the fuck out of here?"
"Jesus, Lilly, enough." Kenny frowned at the woman. Honestly, what crawled up this woman's ass and made her permanently bitchy?
Ignoring the look of genuine hate from Lilly, Kenny simply continued speaking. "They just found their friends again, let them have their moment." he sternly told her. "They'll leave when they're all ready and no one will be worse off for it. Now please, for God's sake - just shut up."
Rick and the other newcomers to the motel all shared a glance. Clearly that man and that woman had some pretty big issues to work out if they were arguing like this in front of total strangers...
"Man, will you and your wife just shut up for a second?" Shane deadpanned. All the arguing was giving him a headache.
Kenny and Lilly instantly turned to Shane, their eyes a mixture of both shock and utter rage at what he said.
"WIFE?!" both Kenny and Lilly exclaimed at once with disbelief.
"Or girlfriend I guess? I don't know." Shane shrugged. He didn't seem too bothered by how they turned their anger toward him. "Or fuck buddies? Or siblings? Maybe you're just a pair of pissy cousins? Or you're-"
"Are you fucking kiddin'-?!"
Shane interrupted Kenny before he could ask his question. "Look, I don't fucking know how you two know each other and I don't really care to begin with." Shane chastised the man. "So can you both please just shut up and stop yelling at each other? We just wanna get our people and go."
"Shane..." Rick quietly warned his friend to not go further. They had just met these people, there was no reason to make them enemies.
His friend's warning only annoyed Shane even more, but maybe Rick was right. Probably best not to make assumptions about complete strangers... even if they did argue like they had a sexual tension strong enough to break through a brick wall Kool-Aid Man-style.
Obviously he didn't and wouldn't say that little thought out loud, but still...
"I'm sorry about my friend's, uh... crassness..." Rick apologized to the motel group, earning him a slightly annoyed look from Shane.
"I'm sorry that your friend's a fucking idiot." Larry bluntly told the sherriff deputy.
"The fuck you just say?" Shane frowned, already storming toward the old man before Rick could stop him.
Larry crossed his arms as the angry shotgun-armed man approached him. He wasn't fazed in the slightest as he and Shane stared each other down.
Who the fuck does this guy think he is? Coming up in here and acting like an asshole... and insulting his daughter no less?!
"Get the fuck out of here. Now." Larry warned through some very gritted teeth. He had no problem throwing out all these assholes - even the stupid kids and that damn mutt.
"Or what, old man?" Shane didn't back down from Larry's challenge.
"Enough! Everyone!" Andrea demanded, forcing herself between Shane and Larry so she could push them apart from one another.
Before Shane and Larry could finally come to blows and let loose their mutual rage, everyone heard a shout come from the trees across the street from the motel.
A dozen or so rifles, pistols, and revolvers were readied as everyone hurried toward the front "gates", ignoring the events of the last few minutes. They thought they were all prepared for whatever would come from those trees, but they weren't.
What they saw wasn't a walker. And it wasn't even some hostile man with a gun... It was Odd stumbling out from the trees with a semi-conscious Chase, the boy's arm wrapped around his neck to keep him upright.
As soon as he saw that he had made it back to the motel with his friend, Odd finally allowed himself to collapse onto the road. Chase let out a groan as he was dropped onto the asphalt below them, though luckily his head landed on his arm instead of the pavement.
Within moments, a lot of people hurried out to help the two teens. Among them were all of the Lyoko Warriors.
"Odd?!" Ulrich asked with concern about his best friend.
"Chase?!" Jennifer gasped with horror. What happened to her boyfriend?!
When the Lyoko Warriors got to Odd and Chase, they were all taken aback by shock towards their appearance.
Odd was a mess... His right eye was blackened and his bottom lip was bloody, and it looked like something had pulled out some hair from his scalp. Odd's rifle was who knew where, his shirt was likewise missing, and he alarmingly had his torso covered with tons of bruises... as if something or someone had specifically targeted him. But the good thing was that the group didn't see any bites on him.
Chase was not much better off than Odd was. The boy was totally unconscious, the back of his head was bloody from the impact of something solid and very blunt hitting against his skull earlier. A rock or a weapon like a baseball bat, most likely. The group now had to worry if he suffered a concussion or not...
"Jesus Christ, Odd! Look at you!" Miranda gasped with horror at what she was seeing. Two of her friends looked like they had the shit kicked out of them!
"Odd, you look like someone attacked you!" Ulrich exclaimed to his best friend as if he couldn't believe it.
"What the fuck happened?!" Jennifer demanded to know as she cradled Chase's head in her lap.
Blaze, whimpering with worry, could only nuzzle against Odd's leg, then against the unconscious Chase's shoulder. He hoped his new friends were okay...
Odd tiredly looked up at the Lyoko Warriors who surrounded him, giving an appreciative pat to the little pup which nuzzled against him. He was also surprised to see Yumi was there, along with Robert, Charles, Kyra, and also Rick and some of his people.
He was happy that someone had finally found their lost friends, but he was in too much pain to celebrate over it right now. The last few hours were nothing less than hellish for the poor cone-haired teenager...
Coughing for a moment while he tried to catch his breath, Odd somehow found the strength to stand back up on his two feet, albeit with a hand on his very sore ribs. Charles and Kyra tried to help him walk, but Odd politely informed them that that wasn't necessary.
Mark hurried out to check on Chase, bringing with him a medical kit taken from the looted hospital. He instructed Jennifer and Alexandr to carefully lay the boy down on the asphalt so he could clean, bandage, and if need be stitch the wound on the back of his head. Wasn't much else Mark could do aside from that.
The Lyoko Warriors watched as Odd silently began to walk past them and towards the motel group, causing them to follow close behind him. The motel group along with Rick and his people were shocked to see the teen in such a state, but many were very impressed that he was still up and about despite his injuries.
As everyone watched, Odd walked until he was just a few steps away from Lilly, who had armed herself in case there was any danger.
Lilly eyed the teen and studied his wounds, but she came to the conclusion that Odd didn't really need any serious medical treatment. But Odd wasn't there to ask Lilly for medical aid. He needed to tell Lilly what his attacker had told him...
Odd cringed and continued holding onto his sore ribs as he looked up at Lilly. What Odd needed to say was extremely important, but at this moment he only said a mere four words to the bitchy woman:
"We need to talk, Lilly."
Back at Hershel's farm, Jeremie sat out on the front porch with Dylan while Carley simply stood out in the yard with her rifle. The poor blond-haired teen's turtleneck still had a lot of Aelita's dried-up blood on it, but he used some water from one of the Greene's wells earlier and at least cleaned up his face and his hands.
It's been about three or four hours since they first arrived with Aelita, and Dylan and Jeremie were simply praying that Hershel's treatment of the poor pinkette was working.
It had to work... there was no way they could lose Aelita.
As if on cue the two teens heard the door open and close. They turned and saw Anne was walking out to join them, albeit now with some gauze on her shoulder and with a pained expression on her face. Dylan immediately went to check up on her since he was still gravely worried about her condition.
"Woah, what're you doing out here?! You need to have Hershel help you, Anne!" Dylan stated with concern at what he was seeing.
"I- I'm okay, Dylan... Patricia already stitched me up..." Anne assured her friend, cringing a bit as her shoulder still had a deep burning sensation from her wound. "Hershel said I can wait out here with you guys while he works on Aelita..." she added.
Dylan was still concerned about Anne being up on her feet after what had happened. He was so worried about Aelita all this time that he almost forgot that she got hurt too... but if Hershel said she could be on her feet, then that was good enough for him, and he didn't try to stop her from coming to join them.
Anne smiled at her friend and then she went to sit on the front porch next to Jeremie while Dylan simply went to lean against the fence railing. The sound of bluebirds was heard in the distance, and the sunshine and the clear blue sky above was a sense of peace in complete contrast to the horrors they experienced today.
All three of the teens and even Carley were thinking the exact same thing:
The last few hours were completely fucked up.
"How's Aelita doing, Anne? Did Hershel say anything to you about that?" Dylan inquired to the bandana-clad teen.
"He was still working on getting the fragments out last I checked..." Anne replied with a soft shrug, cringing as another flash of pain hit her. It faded quickly this time at least.
Dylan nodded and he continued leaning on the railing as he looked out onto the farmland that surrounded Hershel's home, and Jeremie found himself looking out at the fields as well. Hershel had some beautiful farmland, but the teens noticed something that was far more important: the land looked untouched.
The windmill, the water wells, the cattle... The crops, the barn, the fences, the solar panels... The farmhouse, the horse stable, the sheds... Everything Jeremie saw appeared to be more or less pristine aside from the average wear and tear which came with farm life in central Georgia.
It was almost as if the world had never ended for this place. It avoided the fates of the towns and cities overrun by the dead or destroyed by the retreating military...
If they could get back to their friends back at the motel, and if they could find Rick's group out there, then maybe the Lyoko Warriors could find a brand new home for them and their friends here if Hershel permitted them.
This farm could be the true oasis they needed to find without the dangers of trying to reach Fort Benning.
They could finally live again instead of just survive.
However, the group had only one main concern to think about at the moment: Aelita, and her continued survival. They could worry about Hershel's farm possibly becoming a new home later, and only when she's back in good health.
The two teens along with Anne and Carley suddenly heard the front door open, and when they turned they saw Maggie was hurriedly gesturing for Jeremie and Dylan to come back inside with her.
"Jeremie, Dylan, we need you guys." Maggie informed the teens. Her tone made it clear that whatever she needed, it was serious.
Dylan and Jeremie nodded and the two boys immediately went to follow Maggie back inside the farmhouse. Dylan paused for a moment to again check on Anne to see if she was okay, but after she assured him that she would be okay, he left her and hurried inside with Jeremie.
The two teen boys followed close behind Maggie as they walked back through the house. It didn't take long for them to notice some weird muffled noises as they approached the guest bedroom.
Within moments, both Jeremie and Dylan recognized the noises as being screams of pure unfiltered agony.
Aelita was awake.
She was awake, and she was feeling every last bit of the pain in her gunshot wound...
Maggie opened the guest bedroom and she hurried inside to help her father with whatever he needed. Jeremie and Dylan cautiously walked into the room as the screams of agony grew louder since the door was opened.
Inside the room they could see Hershel struggling to pull out one of the bullet fragments from Aelita. The pinkette was in so much pain that she was convulsing and thrashing around wildly, screaming as loud as her lungs allowed even as Patricia struggled to hold her down.
Jeremie and Dylan were nothing short of horrified at seeing Aelita in such a state.
As Aelita kept thrashing and screaming and wailing and sobbing as loud as she possibly could, Hershel gestured for Dylan to hurry over to help him. Patricia wouldn't be able to hold this girl down for long...
"Dylan, I need you to help hold her down!" Hershel informed the teenage boy as he struggled to pull out a fragment. If this girl wouldn't stop moving then he might accidentally make the wound even worse than when she came in...
Although Dylan was stunned with horror at what was happening, he managed to shake himself out of his trance before he hurried over to a side of the bed.
Dylan placed a hand firmly on Aelita's blanket-covered right thigh and another on her right shoulder. He helped Patricia try to keep Aelita as still as possible all while Hershel worked on her, but there was only so much that either of them could do. Aelita just couldn't handle this much pain and her reactions showed...
To the poor pink-haired girl, every last movement of the medical instruments in her gunshot wound felt as if a white-hot torch was being pushed deep into her flesh.
It was hellish. Not even the worst of all the pains XANA inflicted on her compared to anything as bad as this.
She wanted it to stop.
She needed it to stop.
"RRRRAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!! AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHGOOOOOOOODDDDD!!!" Aelita screamed and sobbed, screaming so loudly as Hershel worked on getting the fragment out that her voice almost gave out.
"Keep her still!" Hershel told his two assistants as he felt he was getting close to getting a fragment out.
Dylan broke down in tears as he saw what was happening to his stepsister. He and Patricia tried to keep Aelita as still as they could despite that.
The boy felt so frustrated that he couldn't help his stepsister through this ordeal. And likewise, all that Jeremie could really do was hurry over and take Aelita's hand into his.
Jeremie tried his hardest to be there for the love of his life as she went through so much pain, but to Aelita, the pain was far stronger than the distraction Jeremie could offer from it. The boys were helpless just like she was.
By then, Anne had left the porch and returned to the guest bedroom. Her look of horror and shock over the current scene was clear on her face.
"Oh my God..." Anne gasped. She wanted to help somehow, but with her shoulder-
Suddenly, Aelita let out a much-louder scream of agony as Hershel's instrument pulled the fragment a bit too hard and made the white-hot sensation feel much more intense, much to Jeremie, Anne, and Dylan's growing fear and worry.
He was hurting her! He may end up killing her! What the fuck was he doing?!
"STOP, YOU'RE KILLING HER!!!" Jeremie shouted to the farmer as his tears rolled down the sides of his face. The screams, the look of agony on Aelita's face - it burned into his memory and would all haunt him for the rest of his days.
"Jeremie, do you want her to live?!" Hershel countered as he kept working on getting that fragment out.
Jeremie tightly gritted his teeth to prevent himself from going off on Hershel. He was furious about what she had to go through, but at the same time he was aware that this was the only method that Hershel had to get the fragments out of Aelita.
Unfortunately, despite how angry he was, he knew that Aelita would have no choice but to deal with the pain as best she could while Hershel worked on fixing her up.
And she still had five more fragments to go after this one...
Suddenly, the pink-haired teen's screams ceased, and the group noticed Aelita's body go limp. To Jeremie, Anne, and Dylan's horror they saw that Aelita's eyes had closed.
Hershel saw that the three teens seemed to be wondering if Aelita was dead or not, so he tried to put their minds at ease as he felt the bullet fragment beginning to come loose.
"She just passed out..." Hershel soothed the teens all while he continued trying to get the fragment out.
The three teens were extremely relieved to hear that. Both Dylan and Patricia pulled away from Aelita, as since she was unconscious, and they didn't need to hold her down anymore. After pulling away, Dylan hurried out of the room with tears in his eyes and Anne hurried after him to comfort him.
Patricia went to Jeremie's side and she told him that Aelita was in need of blood right now. Without any hesitation, Jeremie allowed her to stick an IV needle into a vein on his right arm so she could start drawing some of the O-Positive blood that could be donated to Aelita.
As Patricia started to take some blood from Jeremie, Hershel finally pulled out the bullet fragment and studied it. It was very small and warped due to the fragmentation of the bullet, but it and the other fragments certainly did lot of damage to this poor girl.
Hershel had absolutely no idea how he was going to get the other fragments out of her if she would regain consciousness during the middle of an operation again...
With a sigh, Hershel could only say one thing as he set the tiny lead fragment in a surgical dish nearby.
"One down... five to go."
"... he wanted to know about this motel. And he wanted to know who was living in it."
At the motel, the motel group,, the Lyoko Warriors, and the people from Rick's group all gathered around the couch in front of the RV as Odd finished explaining what had happened to him.
Odd and Chase wasn't able to find the other search party, but someone had sure as shit found them. Whoever it was, that person knocked Chase out with a rock outright, and then that person beat the shit out of Odd and questioned him over and over again about the motel and the motel group.
Eventually, with the threat of murder by his own rifle, Odd broke and was forced to tell the stranger whatever they wanted to know.
Though telling the stranger everything wasn't enough to prevent Odd from being viciously beaten even more...
After that, the person, who told Odd his name was 'Nunya Fucking Business... esquire', allowed the boy to go. But even so, they took Odd's rifle, Chase's pistol, and also all of their ammo. The bastard didn't even let the two boys keep their knives either... They left them entirely defenseless in hostile territory.
Whatever the case, Odd and Chase were each very lucky to still be alive right now... It was a miracle that a Lyoko Warrior didn't get shot today.
"Are you certain that the person didn't follow you?" Mark inquired, taking a quick glance back at the trees which Odd and Chase emerged from earlier.
"No, I'm not..." Odd told the man with a blunt tone. "All I know is that I made it back here with Chase practically on my back..."
Chase cringed, his head still pounding from the hit he took. Mark had checked him out and it seemed that he had avoided suffering a concussion, much to everyone's relief.
Ice packs were practically a myth by this point, so the teen had to settle for using an old t-shirt which Katjaa kindly soaked in water and placed on his head for him. She also took care to bandage his head wound for him, much to his gratitude.
But the pain from the rock paled in comparison to losing his precious pistol though... the heirloom carried by his adoptive father, his grandfather, and great-grandfather, and which he hoped to give to a son himself someday as well...
Losing that gun was going to haunt Chase for a long time...
The Lyoko Warriors, Rick, and the others from Rick's group noticed that the motel group was stunned or deeply disturbed by everything Odd had told them.
"And you fucking told some psycho that we're here?!" Lilly sounded angrier than she ever had before.
"That person had my rifle aimed at the back of my head!" Odd defensively said, but even he felt angry at himself. These people trusted him and his friends, and they saved the life of Patrick. Now they might be in great danger now thanks to him...
Larry was pissed already. These kids come in and make themselves at home, eating and using up their shit all while his daughter slaved away to fix one of the moronic ones up. Then they found that dumb little girl who got herself lost from her mommy, and then they brought all these people here with them.
But now? Now that his daughter might be in some degree of danger...? It was taking a big effort from Larry to not just try to choke the life out of one of these stupid sons of-
"Dad, don't." Lilly quietly pleaded, having noticed that all-too-familiar look in his eye.
"Yeah 'dad', don't." Shane couldn't resist the urge to mock. Larry definitely didn't appreciate the 'joke.'
"Fuck off." the constantly-angry old man retorted to the deputy.
Shane frowned. "No, you fuck off!"
"Both of you fucking fuck off!"
Lilly's words finally made Shane and Larry shut up and stop going after each other, at least for the moment. Her head pounding from a fresh anger-induced headache caused by all the childishness, Lilly went to her dad and quietly said something to him which no one could hear, and Rick did the same thing with Shane.
No one wanted to start a fight here between the two groups. Least of all Rick and Lilly...
Odd held up his hand to get everyone's attention again. The others saw he was now cringing, though not from the pain he felt throughout his body.
"... you guys might actually not be in danger." he informed the motel group, albeit very cautiously.
"Wait, what makes you think that?" Chris crossed his arms, his eyebrow raising in curiosity.
The cone-haired teen cringed deeper. "The attacker..." Odd hesitantly began, "seemed to be a lot more interested in me and my group..."
"What?!" Yumi's eyes widened with surprise.
Some dangerous person was targeting their group?
"Odd sighed. "The person said that they spotted us in the woods when Lee, Kenny, and Mark first saved us from the walkers. That their gunfire was what gave us all away." he explained. "The person - a guy I think - said he was really interested in us because he said he recognized Chase."
Chase looked astonished. "That guy said he knew me?" his tone made it clear that he either didn't or, more likely, couldn't believe it.
"Yeah, but he didn't say how." Odd replied. "He only said that he knew you because he happened to get a look at your face after he kicked you over. He wanted to make sure you weren't just pretending to be unconscious or something..."
Puzzled, Chase lowered his gaze and thought deeply to himself. Who the hell did he know in central Georgia before the world ended?
Whoever it was must've come from somewhere out of state, and it stood to assume that they probably knew Dylan somehow too... maybe even Anne if this person was from that far back.
"Look, this is something we'll have to worry about later." Verity politely interjected.
"Right." Rebecca agreed. "And if we get back on the road then we won't have to worry about it at all. Doubt your 'buddy' has a working car, or that he can make it over a hundred miles on foot, or that he can even get inside a military base."
Misty blinked in surprise. "Military base?"
Right... the teens who've been staying here suddenly realized that they never told the motel group of their ultimate destination...
"... Fort Benning." Ulrich answered truthfully, even if it was to the ire of Shane. After what these people did for Patrick, they owed them the truth at bare minimum.
"Fort Benning? In Columbus?" Katjaa asked with surprise.
"We think it might be safe..." Rick further explained to the woman. "It's far from here... but if we make it, we might find shelter until the government can fix this mess." At least that was the hope he and the others in his group all shared.
The motel group all glanced at one another, many of them thinking the same thing...
... was Fort Benning still standing? Was the army still there?
If that fort was still standing, if the dead haven't destroyed the place... it could be a hell of a lot safer than a shitty motel near Macon...
Food, water, armed protection... it could work if they're able to get in...
"... It makes sense to me." Lilly conceded for once, "Fort Benning would be a lot safer for us than being here in the motel. We're already getting low on food too..."
"Plus we wouldn't have to wait for the government to come to us when we can just go straight to them." Kenny added with a determined nod.
The rest of the motel group, along with the Lyoko Warriors who were staying here with them, all looked completely taken aback by what they just heard.
... Kenny and Lilly agreed on something?
"Hold on, hold on..." Andrea suddenly frowned. "Who exactly invited all of you people to come with us to Fort Benning?"
"I did." Lilly retorted with a deep glare. "You and your people owe us for saving your friend's life and keeping the rest of those kids safe after you lost them."
"First off, we didn't 'lose' them!" Andrea protested. "We got separated, that's all it-"
"Enough." both Rick and Lee said at the same time, their stern tones matching very well.
Luckily Lilly and Andrea both got the message, though they still glared at each other and it was clear their first impressions of each other were very negative.
Now that order was restored again, Rick turned to Lee and nodded at him.
"If you guys got vehicles and supplies then you're all welcome to travel with us." Rick offered the motel group on behalf of his own.
"You've gotta be fucking kidding me..." Shane muttered to himself with disbelief and annoyance.
Great. Just great... First they nearly get burned alive by the air force in Atlanta, then the Quarry was attacked, then the CDC exploded, then they wasted precious time trying to find Sophia, and now they've expanded the group to fuck only knows how many people now.
At least these guys have their own cars and supplies and weapons this time... though if Shane had it his way, he'd still have rather told them all to pound sand.
Rick and Fort Benning be damned. These days, it was survival of the fittest.
"We barely even know these people!" Larry protested, "and we don't even know if Fort Benning's still up and running! We could all just be driving to our damn deaths!"
"If we get any indication that the fort's fallen, then our people can just turn around and come right back here." Lilly reasoned to her dad.
"Right." Kenny agreed with her again, making some think that hell had quite literally frozen over.
Larry threw up his arms in frustration. "Ah, fucking- fine!" he growled in defeat. "But if we get caught up in a horde and ripped apart by a hundred walkers on the way there, then I'm gonna be the first to say 'I told you so!'"
"And I'll be the first to tell you to fuck off, Larry." Miranda told him with a sarcastically cheery smile on her face.
As Larry's glare turned toward her, Miranda snapped her fingers in realization. "Wait, as a matter of fact, I can actually do that right now! Fuck off, Larry!" she raised both of her middle fingers up at him as she told him off, her sarcastic smile not fading even in the slightest as she did.
Feeling his heart was beginning to act up again from the sheer rage he felt in his body, Larry stormed off to get his nitroglycerin pills from his room - making Miranda have the satisfaction of knowing that she had made some jackass so impossibly angry that she literally almost killed him.
Although most of the motel group felt good about the idea of going to Fort Benning, there was one who was nervous and sad about the idea...
"B- But what about my mom and dad...?" Clementine hesitantly wondered. "They're supposed to be in Savannah... Fort Benning's super far away from there!"
Lee's face fell as he realized Clementine wouldn't want to do anything that reduced the odds of reuniting with her mom and dad even more.
He knew her parents were more than likely already dead in Savannah, especially after what he heard on their family answering machine before meeting Clementine, but he wouldn't break her heart by telling her.
The little girl needed to hold onto whatever hope she had left, and that hope was having her mom and dad back...
"Clementine, there's a chance that your parents could be in Fort Benning now..." Lee soothed, though he knew he was more or less lying to her.
"Exactly." Mark smiled in agreement.
Clementine looked a bit less nervous thanks to what Lee said, though she was still a little bit unconvinced. What if her mom and dad weren't there...?
She wished they could all just go to Savannah instead... then she'd have her parents back.
"It'll be okay, sweet pea..." Lee assured the little girl, gently pulling her in for a reassuring hug. "We'll be much safer at Fort Benning. And we'll get food and water too... maybe there'll even be new kids for you and Duck to make friends with."
"I guess so..." Clementine muttered. It was clear that she still wasn't happy with the decision, though she'd still go along with it...
That's when Clementine finally noticed Glenn walking up to her. Lee broke their hug so that Clementine could look at Glenn, watching him as he went down to one knee and smiled at her.
"I've still got your walkie-talkie back in our group's RV if you'd like it back." Glenn offered to try and cheer her up a bit, then sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry that I took it with me when I left, Clem... Didn't realize I still had it until I was already close to Atlanta..."
Clementine's walkie... well, the other one which Lee found in her house and spoke to her through when they first met...
Back before the outbreak, Clementine and her parents used a pair of walkie-talkies to communicate whenever Clementine was up playing in her treehouse. Lee took both of the walkies with him when he first met Clementine and decided to watch over her. He couldn't leave the poor girl all alone, after all. Especially since her babysitter had already died and reanimated...
One walkie, unfortunately, was broke during the chaotic mess at the Everett Drug Store in town. The other, even more unfortunately, was accidentally taken by an unrealizing Glenn when he left the group to try and find his family and friends in Atlanta, where he met Rick instead.
Clementine kept the broken walkie despite its uselessness, and she usually had pretend conversations with her parents through it just to make herself feel better when she was sad. But if Glenn was back and offering the functional one which he accidentally took...
"My walkie...?" Clementine's eyes lit up a bit, already growing hopeful that she could regain contact with her mom and dad through the other walkie.
"All yours." Rick assured the girl. He and his group didn't really need it anyway since they had others available.
Finally regaining at least a semblance of happiness, Clementine hurried over to hug Glenn and then Rick as a gesture of thanks. Then she took her broken walkie and hurried back to her room to get her things packed...
Either she'll find her parents in Fort Benning, or she'll be able to talk to them through her functional walkie and lead them there! She was sure of it!
"Her parents...?" Rick quietly questioned as he and Lee watched the little girl happily run back to her room.
Lee didn't answer with words, he just shook his head mournfully. Rick nodded at that, not needing to hear anything else. He felt so sorry for that poor girl...
"Alright, are we done with this or not?" Shane suddenly asked with impatience. "Each second we waste talkin' is another second of travel we're wasting. I don't want any of us on the move once the sun goes down..."
For once, despite him being annoying like that, the others could agree with Shane.
Right now they had to get busy, and they had to get as much distance as possible before nightfall. Last thing they needed was to travel through the darkness with walkers all over the place...
"Give us time to pack up." Lilly instructed. "You guys are parked on I-75 somewhere, right? If you take the exit in Byron, you can go west to Roberta and meet us there."
"Alright then. We'll see you there." Rick told them with a nod. Then, he and his group turned to leave.
"I'll go out and look for the other search team if some of you come with me." Miranda volunteered. They couldn't just wait for their friends to return for hours, could they?
"I'll go..." Chase told her despite his head still hurting. "I don't wanna be cooped up in here, and I wanna help find my brother and sister. I'll only need a rifle."
Wordlessly, Kenny grabbed one of the National Guard rifles from the RV and tossed it over to Chase, then tossed a couple of magazines worth of ammunition. Chase nodded in thanks and stuffed the magazines in his waistband, then he hoisted the rifle onto his back and held it there with its strap.
Others who volunteered to go with Miranda and Chase were Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, despite his injuries, and Jennifer. Some people from Rick's group and the motel group also volunteered to stay and help them look - Glenn, Andrea, Kenny, and Lee.
The rest of the Lyoko Warriors likewise would stay at the motel and help get everything ready there. Rick had enough people on-hand back at the highway to get their convoy packed and ready to go anyway.
"Everybody stay armed and at the ready just in case Odd and Chase's psycho shows up again." Lori instructed both her group and the motel group.
Everyone nodded at that. Most already planned on keeping their guns close at hand just in case.
So, it was decided - Rick people will get everything packed up and ready to go again in their convoy back at the highway, though they'll need to scrounge a bit for fuel. The motel group would stay here and start packing up to join them. And some volunteers will go back out to find the other search team and let them know everything that's happened.
After the volunteers find the other search team and bring them back, both groups will meet somewhere and head west together for the 105-mile trip to Columbus and Fort Benning.
For Rick's people, the motel group, and the Lyoko Warriors - it was now Fort Benning or bust...
Back at the farm, Hershel was sitting at Aelita's bedside and he was busy taking her blood pressure. It's been roughly one hour since he got one of the bullet fragments out of her body, but her condition was still not good and he was not sure how he would be able to help it improve. He couldn't operate on her without her waking up again, and he couldn't get more fragments out if she was thrashing and screaming like how she did earlier. He had to think of something...
After another couple of minutes of checking her blood pressure Hershel took off the blood pressure cuff that he had put on her left arm. Aelita was still unconscious, but at least she was still breathing.
"Her blood pressure is stable." Hershel informed the occupants of the room.
The three teens all breathed a huge sigh of relief at hearing this, and Maggie, Carley, Patricia and Otis were all very relieved to know that Aelita wasn't dead yet as well.
Jeremie was holding himself together for the moment and he was sitting next to Aelita again, still holding her hand. He had no idea if she could comprehend that he was there or not, but he hoped that she could.
Likewise, Dylan walked over to the side of the bed to kiss Aelita on her forehead, feeling saddened to see her still unconscious.
"Chase needs to be here for her..." Dylan sighed, rubbing his exhausted eyes.
"All of our friends needs to be here." Anne corrected him. "None of them have any idea what's going on right now..."
Jeremie brushed a strand of hair out of Aelita's face with the back of his hand, taking the time to study her face...
Despite how horrible this entire situation was, he couldn't help but admit that she looked beautiful even now. Of course he always thought she was beautiful, even during the early days of fighting against XANA and her rematerialization back to earth, but the added sense of peacefulness she seemed to be in at the moment seemed to add to it a bit.
With a sigh, Jeremie gave Aelita a loving kiss on the lips before he let go of her hand and stood up from his chair. He felt slightly woozy due to the blood he had to give over the last couple of hours, but he knew that the rest of the Lyoko Warriors needed to be here for her. If she passed away before they even heard that she had been shot, then they'd all be devastated...
... he had to find them.
"I'll find the others and I'll bring them back..." Jeremie told the others.
Everyone was surprised to hear this coming from Jeremie. For a normally-timid and shy boy, him wanting to brave the walker-filled woods to get back to the motel was pretty unexpected. However, Hershel simply dismissed this with a simple shake of his head.
"You can't do that." Hershel informed the genius.
"Aelita's been shot and Anne's hurt! Our friends need to know about this!" Jeremie protested to the doctor.
"And Aelita is still gonna need more blood, Jeremie. You're the only donor we have at the moment..." Hershel countered with logic.
Jeremie shuffled a bit where he stood and he averted his gaze, seemingly being convinced by Hershel's statement. Aelita needed more of his blood in the near future, and he certainly wouldn't be able to make it through the walker-filled forest and back to the motel alive.
Hershel looked over at the others in the room before he gestured back over towards Jeremie.
"He can't go more than fifty feet from this bed." Hershel informed the two teens and two adults.
The others all nodded in confirmation. Since Hershel told them that he needed to remove Aelita's shirt and bra to get a better medical examination of her torso, everyone began to shuffle out to give him some space.
Jeremie and Dylan both walked over to her and they each gave one last kiss to Aelita's forehead before they left with the others. Hershel left the door cracked open a little in case he needed them to come back.
The three teens walked back out onto the front porch to get some fresh air. Hershel had treated Anne's wound some more earlier and eased some of the pain that it was bringing on her shoulder, but although it was still very sore, she was given free reign to move as she pleased again. She was very lucky to have avoided Aelita's kind of injuries.
As Dylan and Anne sat down on the front steps, Jeremie's emotions suddenly got the better of him and he stormed over to a decorative old spittoon that was sitting on the porch, angrily kicking it over and startling both Dylan and Anne.
"Jeremie?!" Dylan asked, wide-eyed by the unexpected rise of rage from his friend.
Jeremie didn't listen to Dylan. The boy just kicked the spittoon for a second time. And then he kicked it again. And he kept kicking the stupid metal thing until it had rolled off the side of the porch and into the grass below.
His breath heavy from the exertion of the kicks and the rage he felt over what was happening, Jeremie turned back to his friends.
"Aelita is in there dying on that bed right now, and none of the others know that it's happening! NONE!!!" Jeremie exasperated to the other two teens.
"Jeremie..." Anne tried to get his attention to try and calm him down.
"That sidiot Otis couldn't see a girl with PINK hair and clothes in the middle of the forest?! How stupid and careless can a human being possibly be while hunting?!" Jeremie continued, so caught up in his rant that he didn't hear Anne. "Aelita was right there next to that deer! He should've been able to have seen her from a mile away!"
"Jeremie...?"
"She got shot! SHOT!!! I promised Aelita that I'd keep her safe! I promised her that she would have a long, great and happy life on earth with us after we finally got her out of Lyoko! AND NOW SHE MIGHT DIE! ALL BECAUSE OF HIM!!!"
"Hey! Einstein! Are you even listening?!"
"The vast majority of the people she cares about don't even know that her life is in danger of ending! Her other brother, the rest of our friends, and even her own parents don't know! That's assuming if Anthea and Waldo are even still alive back in France!"
"Dude, seriously, I'm trying to talk to you!"
"It should've been me who had gotten shot by Otis instead of Aelita! She has an entire life ahead of her, she has two brothers who think the world of her, and I wish-"
"JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP FOR ONE SECOND AND LISTEN TO US, JEREMIE BELPOIS!!!"
Jeremie immediately went silent as he turned to look back at the two teens, wide eyed with shock. Dylan was also completely taken aback by how Anne got Jeremie's attention, but the bandana-clad girl simply remained silent and gave Dylan a shrug.
Dylan could only blink with confusion before he turned his attention back at Jeremie.
"Uh... well, look, Jeremie, I get it." Dylan told the formerly-rambling genius, quickly getting over Anne's way of doing things. "I promise that later we'll all handle finding the group and telling them about what happened."
Dylan then walked over and placed a hand on Jeremie's shoulder.
"But right now you just need to focus on handling your end..." Dylan stated to him.
"M- My end...?" Jeremie inquired as to the meaning of Dylan's words.
"Your end is being here for Aelita." Dylan wisely told the blond teen. "Even if Aelita doesn't need any of your blood to survive, there is still no way that I'd ever let you leave her and walk towards that forest and try to get back to the cabin by yourself... Hell, I'd break your legs if you tried!" he stated. His threat at the end was more of a joke than an actual threat, but still.
Jeremie, now much calmer thanks to Dylan and Anne, simply lowered his head and walked over to the porch railing, leaning against it while in deep thought.
Dylan and Anne felt very bad for the poor teen so they both walked over to him. Dylan leaned against the railing as well, taking a glance at Jeremie next to him.
"Jeremie, if... If she died while you were gone..." Dylan trailed off as he said this, as if the idea of such a thing was inconceivable.
He could see how Jeremie's face tightened from what was said. Dylan didn't blame him one bit.
Aelita was the love of Jeremie's life. Him losing her would be like Dylan losing Rebecca - something which he just couldn't imagine.
"... if she died while you were gone... then you would never forgive yourself for not being there when it happened..." Dylan continued after a moment. "You need to stay here at her side, dude... You need to hold your own, and the only thing you need to worry about is that girl you love in there." he finished what he needed to say.
"Exactly..." Anne agreed with a nod. "Jeremie, she needs you more than you realize. Just being there for her is enough. Carley or Dyl will head out, find the others, tell them what happened and then lead them back to this farm." she assured the genius.
The blond teen glanced back at his friends and after a few silent moments he finally sighed and nodded in resignation.
They were completely right. He had to stay and be right there at Aelita's side no matter if she survives or not. Jeremie owed her that.
The teens were taken out of their discussion by Carley, who had opened the front door and told them that Hershel needed to speak with them.
The three proceeded to follow Carley back inside and they went to wait in the living room for Hershel. They heard the door of the guest bedroom open and shut, and within moments the elderly farmer walked into the room to speak with them.
"She's out of danger... at least for the moment." Hershel informed the teens. "But I need to remove those remaining fragments..."
"How? We all saw what happened last time you tried that." Dylan stated in reply.
"I know. And that was the shallowest one... I need to go deeper to get the others." Hershel told the group with a grave tone.
Dylan, Jeremie and Anne's eyes all widened.
If Aelita reacted the way she did when it came to only having the shallowest fragment being removed, then there's simply no way that Hershel would ever be able to get the five deeper ones out of her body.
"Oh my god..." Jeremie whispered with horror.
"There's more." Hershel sighed. "Aelita's belly is distended and her pressure is dropping, which means that there's internal bleeding." he informed.
Jeremie was so distraught about Aelita's condition that he shakily went to sit down in the chair next to her bed, his face pale from worry. Jeremie knew that internal bleeding was a very serious threat to a person's life, but it was even more dangerous now that there was no hospitals and trained surgeons left to help her.
Dylan and Anne knew that as well, and they were just as worried as Jeremie was. What could Hershel do to save her...?
"A fragment must have nicked one of her blood vessels." Hershel further explained. "I have to open Aelita up, find the bleeder, and stitch it. And she can't move while I'm in there, I mean at all... If she reacts the same as before, I'll sever an artery and she'll be dead in minutes..." he warned.
A silence settled upon the three teens as they tried to comprehend what Hershel was telling them. Carley, Maggie, Patricia and Otis all came into the room as this happened and they each kept a respectful distance from the teens.
Dylan and Jeremie couldn't even look at Otis due to how disgusted they felt by his presence. Otis was heartbroken by their reactions, but out of guilt he didn't hold it against them.
"To even try this I have to put her under. But if I do that then she won't be able to breath on her own. Same bad results..." Hershel warned the teens.
"So what would it take to be able to put Aelita under and be operate on her?" Jeremie inquired.
Otis finally walked a few steps to join the conversation. Jeremie and Dylan glared at him with anger as he approached, but Otis already knew of a way that could help solve the problem of operating on Aelita without a massive risk of her dying during it.
"You'll need a respirator..." Otis stated to the teens and the doctor.
Dylan was still pissed at Otis about the accident, but his eye rose with interest. Jeremie, however, continued glaring at the hunter for a few extra moments.
The supergenius knew Otis was remorseful about the whole ordeal, but Jeremie's anger simply couldn't be ignored. His girlfriend's life may end because of that guy!
... but if Otis truly wished to help atone for the accident he caused, then Jeremie wasn't going to stop him. At this point he'll welcome whatever help he could get for Aelita.
"... what else do you need, Hershel?" Jeremie frowned, reluctantly allowing the hunter to join the discussion.
"The tubes that go with it. Extra surgical supplies, drapes, sutures..." Hershel added to the list of the things he needed.
"If you have all of these things then you can save Aelita's life...?" Anne asked the doctor.
"If I had all of that then I could try..." Hershel stated back to the wounded teen.
Maggie immediately went to write down a list of the medical supplies and equipment that she knew was needed, and if her father had some more stuff that was needed for the surgery that she didn't know about then she'd give him the list and he could fill out the rest.
As Maggie found a pen and paper and began writing down the items, Otis kept trying to think on where exactly they could find a respirator and whatever else was needed.
"The nearest hospital went up in flames a month ago..." Otis stated, deep in thought.
Jeremie was about to angrily call the hunter an idiot for saying something so obvious, but Otis suddenly spoke up again in realization.
"The high school..." Otis stated, his memory being a godsend. The high school was the key to saving that pink-haired girl!
"That's what I was thinking..." Hershel replied before he looked at the teens. "They set up a FEMA shelter there. They would have everything we need." the farmer informed.
"Place was overrun last time I saw it. You couldn't get near it... maybe it's better by now?" Otis theorized to the others.
That high school FEMA shelter saw a lot of death back in the early weeks of the outbreak... but maybe now it can help save just one last life.
"We'll worry about the semantics of this later." Carley interjected. "If I can find the way back to the motel, then I can get Lilly and Mark and whatever med supplies are still left. Then I could get them both back here to help Hershel if need be." she suggested.
"If you got people who have medical training then I won't refuse the help..." Hershel replied with a nod.
Carley nodded and she went out of the room to get her National Guard rifle which she had left laying against the hall outside of the guest bedroom.
Maggie finished writing the supply list and she handed it to her father so he could look it over and add anything else that he needed. As he did that, Maggie walked over to the three teens to speak with them.
"Where exactly are your friends at?" Maggie inquired to the young teens.
"They're in a motel outside of Macon." Dylan replied to the farmer's daughter. "I think it's southeast of here, but I don't know how far..."
"I'll ask Carley to take a horse and come with me then." Maggie told the teens. "We'll head out and find your motel, and we'll tell your people about what's going on. We'll find those 'Lilly' and 'Mark' people as well." she explained.
The teens all smiled at Maggie when they heard that. Maggie smiled back at the teens and then she walked out of the room to get the supplies she needed to go out with Pete. Mainly she just needed her hat, her horse, her bag and a knife. She didn't use a gun since her father wouldn't allow it.
She was probably also going to take her stepbrother's old baseball bat with her though, just so she could feel a little more safe.
Maggie went to find Carley and let her know that she would help her get to the motel if she'd lead. As Maggie did that, Dylan and Anne continued to talk to Hershel while Jeremie walked back into the guest bedroom.
Jeremie sat back down in the chair next to Aelita's bed and he took her hand into his once more, sighing as he leaned his head back and tiredly shut his eyes.
He hoped Maggie and Carley would be able to track down the group...